Skipton Town Council may have been wrongly billed for car park lighting for 36 years, it has been revealed.

In December, the council paid £6,000 of a £8,000 demand from Craven District Council after receiving a court threat.

Council officers had raised questions about the bill – which had been twice that of the year before – and had discovered it had been wrongly billed for footpath work outside its area.

Now, it has discovered more discrepancies – including being charged for the lighting in the town’s Cavendish Street and Coach Street car parks. At a full council meeting, councillors heard that the actual amount owed by the town council was likely to be £4,500.

Chief officer Dave Parker said progress was being made to make sure the council received the correct bill, but some councillors said that they expected an apology from the district council.

Deputy mayor, Coun Robert Heseltine, said: “We paid £6,000 out of good faith after getting a £13,000 demand made with menaces and now we find we have overpaid by £1,500.”

Town council leader, Coun Paul English, said officers had only brought the issue to councillors after getting nowhere with their requests for a bill breakdown from the district council. He said: “It is worrying and it could be that we have been paying for the lights in Coach Street and Cavendish Street car parks since 1974.”

Coun English said if the council was owed any money, it would do its utmost to get it repaid.

“If anyone is found to have been at fault, I would expect a full apology,” he added.