BT has apologised after a council complained about out of date and inaccurate information in its latest phone book.

The errors occurred in the latest Durham and Wearside edition of the phone book which includes listings for Durham County Council.

Some contact details for councillors were missing, along with telephone numbers used by members of the public to ring the authority.

BT also published telephone numbers for the Durham City Council – even though it no longer exists, having been scrapped when the new unitary authority came into being.

Last year’s phonebook for the area also contained errors and included details for councillors who were no longer alive.

Roger Goodes, head of policy and communications at Durham County Council, said: “We have raised a number of concerns with BT about out of date and inaccurate information and we are exploring a range of potential solutions.

“We would like to take this opportunity to direct members of the public to the guide to services we have recently distributed to all households and to our website ‘contact us’ list at www.durham.gov.uk"

A spokeswoman for BT said it apologised for any mistakes made in the Durham County Council listings.

She said: “One error was made in listings that were chargeable to the customer.

“Other errors lie within free listings provided and this is being looked into. "The remaining errors concern numbers not provided by BT and the customer was advised prior to the print deadline that they needed to contact the company concerned in order to amend, check or change any listings.

“That company would in turn have fed this information into BT. Listings for the old district councils fall into this category.”