A St Werburgh's man may have to drop out of university so he can afford to repay thousands of pounds of benefits mistakenly paid to him by Bristol City Council.

Kevin Messenger, 26, cannot afford repayments of £2,680 paid to him in error by the council's benefit department over a six-month period this year.

This means that Mr Messenger can no longer afford to pay his rent, and may have to quit university and move back in with his parents.

An independent tribunal held earlier this month concluded that Mr Messenger followed the benefit process "wholly properly" yet he is being held financially accountable for a "serious mistake" made by the city council.

Mr Messenger, of Stafford Road, applied for council tax and housing benefit for the first time in his life, when he was made redundant from his job as an office manager for a clothing company in December 2008.

After providing all his personal details to the council, his application was processed and he started to receive monthly payments of £600 to cover his Job Seekers Allowance and housing benefit into his bank account.

In accordance with rules when receiving benefits, Mr Messenger informed the council of his change of address when he moved house in May.

Days later he received a letter from the council, accusing him of misinforming the authority about his partner, Stella Harris' income, as retail manager of a clothing store.

But Mr Messenger had disclosed all his and his partner's financial information, including copies of Ms Harris' payslips, which the council had lost.

An administrative error by the council meant that Mr Messenger had received £2,680 in benefits that he wasn't entitled to, because Ms Harris earned over the benefit threshold, yet he was led to believe he was.

Mr Messenger, a volunteer for the Bristol Drug Protection Agency, said: "I had claimed benefit from December until May, during which time I was working voluntarily. Due to Bristol City Council mislaying and overlooking the evidence submitted, I am now accountable for the recovery of these funds."

Mr Messenger is studying for a foundation degree in substance misuse through the City of Bristol College and the University of the West of England.

He said: "I've recently enrolled in a university course. But now that I'm having to make these repayments, I don't know if I can afford to carry on with the course."

The tribunal concluded that the council was responsible for two serious errors, including "overlooking the clear evidence of Mr Messenger's partner's earnings on the form and in the telephone conversations", and "mislaying and overlooking the payslip evidence submitted".

But "where a payment is made by official error, it is nonetheless recoverable".

Mr Messenger said: "If I had been told in January that I wasn't entitled to benefits then I would have had other options open to me – I could have moved back in with my parents, and I wouldn't have started university."

Mr Messenger will be writing to the Prime Minister and local councillors about his situation.

A spokesman for Bristol City Council said: "On October 1, a tribunal independent of Bristol City Council upheld the decision by the council's housing benefits service to seek the recovery of overpayment of housing and council tax benefit of around £2,680.

"While it was a mistake by the council that led to the overpayment, the authority sought recovery of the overpayment of benefits because we believe it is reasonable to expect Mr Messenger to have realised that he was being overpaid, a view upheld by the tribunal."