I HAVE read the article about Dominic Cummings and his family not being liable to pay the backdated council tax on the properties they built on their land without permission (Echo, Oct 14).

As you state in the article it is a case of different rules for different people.

I am sure most of your readers will remember the Alfred Dryden affair when Durham County Council pursued an individual, who obviously had mental health issues but constructed an unauthorised building on his property.

Their heavy handed, but legal, actions resulted in that unfortunate individual cracking which resulted in the death of a council official and injuries to others, when Mr Dryden felt cornered and pressurised and was pushed beyond reason.

I feel that the council in the current circumstances have not carried out their duties to the council tax payers of County Durham.

I would request that they publish in the Northern Echo their justification for not pursuing the Cummings family to meet their financial obligations, especially in the current financial situation the country finds itself.

Name and address supplied.