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'Stop sending letters to my dead father'

BBC A photograph of the top half of Rachael Clark - she has blonde, curly, shoulder length hair and is wearing a green jumper. She is stood in her kitchen - behind her on the right is a laptop, sink and window. On the back left is a wooden door door and green kitchen cabinets BBC
Rachael Clark said the "constant letters and emails" to her father were painful and distressing

A woman whose father died two years ago has said their family - including her 82-year-old mother - are continuing to receive correspondence in his name.

Rachael Clark said her dad Richard Clark died on 25 October 2022, and that they notified utility companies and the government within a couple of weeks, but Scottish Power and the DVLA are still writing to him.

On the second anniversary of his death, a letter from the DVLA arrived at her mother's door asking Mr Clark to renew his driving licence - and a fed-up Miss Clark responded by filling in the address as "Belper Cemetery".

Both Scottish Power and the DVLA said they apologised for the distress caused.

A letter from the DVLA saying it is time to renew your licence. On the second page, the address has been filled out as "Belper Cemetery, Broadholme, Belper, Derbyshire"
Miss Clark said "it was a real shock" to receive a licence renewal letter addressed to her dad

Miss Clark, from Belper in Derbyshire, said on the second anniversary of her father's death, they found the DVLA letter after returning from a family day out to remember him.

She said: "You can imagine the pain and distress that caused us when we are trying to remember dad."

The 56-year-old said she filled out the address as Belper Cemetery "as a kind of hope it is a bit of a shock to them, to realise the impact their letter has had to my mum and the rest of the family".

Two weeks before this, Scottish Power had sent an email, which began "Hi Richard".

She said: "It's horrible - you are living with that loss every single day and you have got these constant reminders.

"You thought you had done everything you needed to do, then you get these emails and letters in the post and it brings it all back to you."

A family photograph - from left to right - of Rachael Clark, her mother Pat, father Richard, and sister Alison. They are all stood up smiling with their arms around each other except Pat who is sat down with an 80th birthday cake in front of her
Mr Clark and his wife Pat lived together in Ambergate in Derbyshire

Miss Clark said Scottish Power had been notified about Mr Clark's death "well over a dozen times" via phone calls with her mother and Miss Clark, as well as emails.

But they continued to receive "mainly emails and letters... in double figures", she said.

She added: "It is just so painful. It drags up all that loss and grief.

"I just think they don't care, they are putting profit before people, and ultimately they are not bothered about the knock-on effects of that."

A photograph of an email from Scottish Power, titled "Reset your password". The email begins, "Hi Richard"
Miss Clark had requested a password reset from Scottish Power last month when she received this email in her father's name

Miss Clark said she and her sister had moved their mother to a different energy provider now "because we're so fed-up of [the] lack of service and understanding".

With the DVLA, Miss Clark said they notified them about her father's death through the Tell Us Once service.

"We also sent dad's driving licence off to the DVLA," she added.

She added she believed organisations should sign up to a bereavement charter, "in the same way there is Investors in People".

"I think companies need to take this seriously because everybody, sadly, is going to be affected at some point in their life by bereavement," she said.

"They need to understand the impact of their action, or lack of action."

Richard and Pat Clark stood outside a church on their wedding day.
Mr and Mrs Clark were married for 59 years

Miss Clark added: "Mum's been quite distressed by it all. Dad used to do all the legal things, all the financial things... to have those letters and phone calls, it's just really distressing."

A Scottish Power spokesperson said they were very sorry to the family for their loss and any distress caused.

The spokesperson added: "The recent email received should not have been addressed to him as all account holder details had been changed back in March of this year - we are very sorry this happened.

"We understand how upsetting it can be to receive bills and requests for payments addressed to a loved one who is no longer with us, and we do everything we can to help our customers during this period.

"However, we are also required by law to meet certain rules when it comes to discussing account information with someone who is not named on the account which can, regrettably, cause a delay in amending account details."

A DVLA spokesperson said: "We sympathise with Miss Clark and understand the distress caused.

"We recommend people use Tell Us Once service, but unfortunately, on this occasion we did not receive notification that Mr Clark had passed away and we are looking into why this happened.

"A member of staff will contact Miss Clark directly to discuss the case further."

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