Bailiffs are frightening people in debt and charging fees for "phantom" visits they have never made as well as threatening to remove items that do not belong to them, Citizens Advice warned yesterday.

Its investigation found that local authorities are piling unnecessary expense onto people unable to pay their bills and council tax with unnecessary court costs and bailiff fees.

Citizens Advice quizzed 500 people in England and Wales who were being chased by bailiffs for council tax debt.

It found that 38 per cent were charged for visits bailiffs had not made and 40 per cent were threatened with the removal of items that did not even belong to them.

One in five people said they received frequent or aggressive phone calls from the bailiff and one in 10 said they had been "bombarded" with text messages.

Some 13 per cent of those surveyed said bailiffs had contacted their family, friends or neighbours about their debt and one in 12 had been approached in the street or at work by bailiffs.

Citizens Advice said that over the past year it had received reports from nearly 17,000 people about problems with bailiffs trying to collect council tax.

But a quarter of councils do not log data about such complaints, it said.

Debts collected by bailiffs are often increased through fees and court costs.

The speed at which some councils call in the debt collectors also prompted concerns.

One advice bureau reported that bailiffs had been called in for just £21 of council tax arrears, which then ballooned to £251 through court costs and fees.

Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy said: "Adding on excessive court costs and bringing in the bailiffs early flies in the face of supporting people who are finding it difficult to cope with rising living costs.

"Instead councils need to identify payment problems early and point those people towards free debt advice as well as monitoring the performance of bailiffs by collecting and analysing complaints.

"The use of bailiffs should be an absolute last resort."