THE chief executive of a council at the centre of an expenses overpayment row has apologised to councillors who have suffered abuse since the mix-up was revealed.

Mike Chambers, chief executive of Hyndburn Council, apologised publicly yesterday as new measures were unveiled to ensure councillors will never be overpaid again.

An internal audit was launched last month into claims that members of the Tory-only Cabinet had received expenses for attending cabinet meetings, even though the law states attendance allowances cannot be paid for one-party meetings.

The probe revealed councillors had made claims in good faith for dozens of meetings when they were not entitled to. The total overpayments are believed to top £36,000 including claims for meetings councillors attended but weren't allowed to claim for such as residents' association meetings.

At a special meeting of the council's policy and resources committee yesterday, councillors accepted a report which advised that officers should contact the Government to ask for special sanction to make some of the overpayments lawful.

Any which cannot be sanctioned as lawful will have to be repaid, the committee was told.

A new system for verifying expenses was also agreed.

Mr Chambers said: "This report has revealed that no proper checks have been in place, and this is not the fault of the councillors.

"We are taking steps to make sure this doesn't happen again and a new system for claiming is in place.

"On behalf of the council's paid service, the officers involved and myself, I wish to apologise to councillors and former councillors for the embarrassment and inconvenience which has resulted from the errors in payment."

Councillors told the meeting the past two months had been a nightmare for all councillors and their families, with many being abused in the street.

Council leader Peter Britcliffe said: "This has been a horrendous time for us all. We have been approached in the street and accused of trying to fiddle the council, which is something none of us would ever do.

"All claims made have been in good faith and are for meetings we have attended to serve the community.

"Had we been told that we couldn't claim for meetings, we could have taken steps to get them included within our standing orders."

Mayoress Mrs Sandra Hayes said: "We have been abused and taunted because of this. People seem to forget the amount of work we do for the community."

A new member of staff will be appointed to ensure the new system is administered correctly.

The meeting was told no decision had been taken on possible disciplinary action against the staff who should have kept tabs on who claimed what.

Despite the apology from Mr Chambers, Labour leader Ian Ormerod refused to retract a call for Coun Britcliffe to resign.