Television's Sir Trevor McDonald has been blamed for councils in Oxfordshire losing millions of pounds in tax income.

A documentary hosted by the News at Ten presenter has resulted in hundreds of homeowners successfully appealing against council tax banding.

It means hundreds of thousands of pounds is being repaid to people who have been overcharged over the past 15 years.

And councils estimate they will miss out on more than £2m in tax in the next financial year.

The banding changes hit councils in two ways - reducing the amount of money they receive and also landing them with one-off repayments to people whose homes were incorrectly banded.

As Oxford City Council was finalising its budget, councillors were warned that appeals over banding meant it would end up with £200,000 less from council tax next year than first estimated.

Oxfordshire County Council, which receives the biggest proportion of council tax, confirmed it would face a fall in revenue of £1.8m next year.

The councils were taken aback by the scale of the response to a Tonight with Trevor McDonald programme shown last year.

It highlighted that thousands of homes were in the wrong band, because of inaccurate valuations carried out in 1991.

The programme explained how people could check the tax band of neighbours and similar properties on the Internet, holding out the prospect of millions of householders being able to claim back thousands of pounds each.

It resulted in more than 300 families in Oxford alone successfully appealing, and securing cuts in council tax of up to £120 a year.

Those living in the same property since the introduction of council tax are entitled to rebates as far back as 1993.

Jim Campbell, the city council's executive member for finance, said: "It means that our projected income is less than expected. This is certainly another pressure.

"If Oxford is typical, it seems to have been a very important programme.

"But all these complications show what an unsatisfactory and flawed system council tax is."

Charles Shouler, the county council cabinet member for finance, said: "There have been appeals, with people having banding reduced. The net effect is that we will have £1.8m less than we would have had.

"This is money that could have meant more investment in services, or it might have allowed us to reduce council tax increases to 3.5 per cent.

"But we have to live with the facts of the situation."

Have you had your home rebanded and collected a council tax rebate?

If so, call our newdesk on 01865 425500 or send an email to nqonews@nqo.com