REBEL Droitwich pensioner Nellie Copson is to be made bankrupt once again for refusing to pay business rates.

The 84-year-old has been served with a bankruptcy order in relation to debts totalling £1,229.28.

Miss Copson refuses to pay the business levy on her disused High Street shop, which she lives above, and owes the money from April 2002-April 2003.

But the former cobbler says she cannot afford the arrears and doesn't see why she should have to pay Wychavon District Council.

"I don't have enough money in the building society to cover the debt and any other money I have comes from a trust left to me by my late brother," she said.

"Anyway, I don't see why I should pay business rates when my shop is empty. How can the council charge me for premises that aren't suitable for letting? It doesn't even have a toilet."

Miss Copson's long-running battle with Wychavon District Council started in 1995 when the council realised she hadn't been paying business rates.

She was jailed in January 2000 for a £2,726 debt she had owed since 1995 but was released two days later.

In August last year, another judge refused to send her to jail for further unpaid debts because she was too old, but urged the council to take any action necessary to get their money.

They decided to issue a petition for bankruptcy at Worcester County Court and trustees took the cash from Miss Copson after it was revealed the pensioner did have the money to pay.

Similar action is now to be taken once again.

"The council has a responsibility to collect business rates and, in my view, it would have been wrong to write off the debts simply because of Miss Copson's age," said Wychavon's managing director Sid Pritchard.

"She is in a better position to pay than many other elderly people who strive to make sure their payments are made on time."