The end result after many more dates in court, and smaller protests when people were notified that there would be baliffs coming round to sieze property to pay for the unpaid tax, was replacement of the Community charge with a new replacement tax called the council tax.

The legislation which manages this is still on the books. If someone pays their tax late, the council takes the debt to court as a matter of inflexible policy (it doesn't quite take them to court - it's slightly surreal from that point of view) before there's any attempt to negotiate an arrangement.

This means court costs are awarded against the debtor automatically. And if there's no arrangement, the debt is handed over to bailiffs immediately.