A MAINTENANCE worker found himself with £20,000 extra in his pay packet- all because he shares the same name as a council leader.

Paul Carter, then aged 54 and who worked for Kent County Council (KCC) as a maintenance fitter and shares the council leader’s name, got paid £21,398 in addition to his own salary.

Mr Carter, who also worked at Aylesford Commercial Services Depot, then resigned, made off with the cash and left the country.

The botch-up has been labeled an “administrative error” by the council, who failed to notice the salary mix-up but continued to pay Mr Carter the increased amount for several months.

The mistake was only discovered when Cllr Carter realised his overdraft was getting near its limit.

A spokeswoman for KCC said: “As soon as the error was discovered, action was taken to reclaim the money.”

In total, £769 was repaid but £20,629 is still outstanding.

She added: “The member of staff resigned and then left the country and we have not been able to trace them for repayment.

“The cost of finding this person would be too expensive to the taxpayer, and we have had to reluctantly write the debt off.

“Clearly, if he were to be found in the UK, we would look at reclaiming the outstanding sum."