St Mary’s RC Church in Arisaig found itself mired in a long-running battle with Scottish Water after it was wrongly classified as a restaurant.

Father Stanislaw Pamula calculated that the issue had cost the parish about £4,000 since 2008.

The water company says it has now rectified the error, adding that the church will be reimbursed.

Fr Pamula told The Herald: “The parish has been paying about £4000 too much since about 2008 and in good conscience I could not allow this to continue. I have been trying to sort this out since September 2016. I was getting five calls a week from Scottish Water Business Stream pressuring me to sign a new contract.

“The church has always been automatically exempt from water charges. That arrangement has been working fine everywhere, but not here at Arisaig.

“We have been getting charged for a single tap in the vestry so I started investigating and found we had three water supply ID points assigned to us – for the church hall, the church and the adjoining house.

“But there was also a mysterious fourth water ID point allocated to the church and I eventually discovered this is actually the one for a restaurant in Arisaig.

“So for the past three years I have been trying to prove to Scottish Water Business Stream that this is not our water supply point and the church is located in a completely different part of the village. It would seem the church has been paying for this fourth metering point for at least 15 years and I reckon that’s cost the church about £4,000.

“Also, twice a year I have all the hassle with them [Scottish Water Business Stream] claiming I am running a restaurant premises here and have to prove I don’t actually have a restaurant. They basically don’t care.

“It’s been a nightmare to deal with.”

A spokesperson for Scottish Water said: “As a charitable organisation which is eligible for exemption, St Mary’s does not have to pay water charges, provided exemption is applied for by the church which, unfortunately, has not happened in this case. We believe this has been due to confusion around supply points. We have now arranged for exemption to be applied and backdated to St Mary’s but this will need to be re-applied for annually by the church.

“We understand Father Pamula’s concern relating to the supply point in question. However, the issue appears to have been caused by too many supply points being historically registered to the church.

“These surplus supply points will be removed from the market to avoid any future confusion, and the meter appearing on St Mary’s bills has been verified as being physically located in and supplying the church.”