The council had  to change to their bill payment number for technical reasons, they thought it would be a ok to use 0845,as other councils use it for this purpose.

See: http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/NEWS/10969366.Phone_line_change_will_see_slight_rise_in_costs/?ref=rss

Having listened to advice  from members here and other parties, they can now see that 03 is the way to go and are now using 0300 456 2671. (The main number to contact the council switchboard remains as  01325 380651 )

Fair play to them for acting quickly. :)