LANCASTER'S MP Hilton Dawson has been left stunned by a £286 bill for holding public meetings at the Town Hall.

The MP, who has used Lancaster Town Hall on a number of occasions to campaign about local issues, has written to the city council saying he won't be using the town hall again after being landed with the bill.

Hilton has been invoiced for two public meetings that were held during the evenings at Ashton Hall.

He told the Citizen: "It's a poor day when the Lancaster MP can't meet at Lancaster Town Hall to discuss issues important to Lancaster people. To me it's been a well established principal for surgeries and public meeting to be free of charge. I've not been charged at Wyre or Garstang. I'm particularly surprised to be charged for the meeting I held about bullying which was completely non-political. I don't have the budget to pay £143 for the hire of a room for a couple of hours so I'll be looking to hold meeting elsewhere in future. That's fine by me."

Political opponents have said that the MP should be treated the same as everyone else and pay to use Ashton Hall for meetings.