FOUR councillors including the Lord Mayor of Oxford have received court summons after failing to pay their council tax, we can reveal.

Politicians in Oxford, Cherwell and West Oxfordshire were ordered to pay £4,845.60 in arrears in the financial year.

Yesterday Lord Mayor Mohamed Altaf-Khan, who took up his ceremonial role in May this year, called for improvements to be made to the reminders system while others cited family and financial troubles, extortionate business rates and being ‘completely stupid’ for the delay.

Mr Altaf-Khan said: “It was a bit of a shock. Between the tenants there was a gap where the council needed to collect it, but they didn’t write to me at the time.

“As soon as I was informed I paid. Where I have lived for the past 15 to 20 years it has all been direct debit and never delayed.”

He added: “Most letting properties have HMO licences and they have an email, a telephone and all the details of the landlords.

“So I think the council tax system should have text messages and emails, which are quicker and electronic.”

The figures were obtained under freedom of information laws by Private Eye.

Last year it emerged that over the last 10 years some £4.9m in unpaid council tax was still owed in Oxford and about £2.6m in Cherwell.

The lion’s share of funds goes to the county council, with smaller amounts passed to district, parish and town councils the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner.

The only councillor to be taken to court over unpaid council tax was Mr Dingwall, who represents Freeland and Hanborough on West Oxfordshire District Council.

But the father-of-two said he was ‘extremely proud’ to have fought over the missing £3,316.46 after caring for his elderly parents at home for eight years.

Mr Dingwall, who later received a £1,050 rebate, said: “I got into cashflow trouble but I didn’t want my mum and dad to go into a home, and drove myself into difficulties.

“Anyone who says I’m a greedy Conservative who doesn’t pay the bills, you are wrong. What’s very important is that I understand, because of what I have done personally, how easy it is to get into financial difficulty. I have great sympathy for those people.”

Fellow West Oxfordshire district councillor Mr Kellend said he had ‘no excuse’ for the late £900 bill, adding: “I’m just completely stupid when it comes to paying bills.”

But the Bablock Hythe resident, who also owns the Ferryman Inn, said he and his wife had paid about £100,000 in business rates over the past 20 years.

He added: “The rates system is devoid of common sense. Pubs pay on size and turnover and because we are huge, we get clobbered.”

Cherwell district councillor Mr Turner, who is also the deputy town mayor for Banbury, was served a court summons and paid £412.85. He declined to comment.

The Local Government Finance Act forbids councillors from voting on the council’s budget and determining council tax if they themselves have missed payments for two consecutive months or more. Some 14 local authorities in the UK saw councillors excluded from their budget meetings for this reason.

Oxford City Council confirmed it had sent a demand notice and reminder to Mr Altaf-Khan prior to the court summons but declined to comment further.

Between April and September this year a total of 171 people were helped by the Oxford Citizens Advice Bureau on council tax arrears – a notable drop from the 235 seen in the same period the year before.

Director Al Bell said she was ‘not surprised’ that councillors would also occasionally forget to pay a bill but said people should always seek support if they fall behind.

She said: “People have complex lives and a lot of the people we see are quite vulnerable; they might have English as a second language, or have low literacy skills.

“Do something about it as soon as possible and don’t ignore it because the costs escalate quite quickly. Councils don’t want people to go into debt.”