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Constituents of a Tory MP have been charged 55p a minute to phone him for help.

Sir Greg Knight hastily scrubbed an 0845 number he’s used for more than six years from his website this week after it was criticised by activists.

The Fair Telecoms Campaign branded him “foolish” for using the ‘non-geographic’ number, for which mobile phone firms charge users an “access charge” of up to 55p a minute.

When the Mirror called the number today it was still connected.

We sat through a 15-second recording of Sir Greg and the chimes of Big Ben before being put through, then no one picked up.

Contacted by the Mirror, Sir Greg claimed it “made sense” when he signed up for the number because it guaranteed a local rate for landlines - but he has now removed it from his website.

(Image: Hull Daily Mail / SWNS.com)

He admitted “habits have changed and most people now do use mobiles”, insisting: “It’s not a money-making exercise.

“I have not received one penny out of the use of this number, and neither has anyone in my office or my employ.”

But David Hickson of the Fair Telecoms Campaign said there was “no justification” to using the “daft” and “ridiculous” 0845 number.

He added: “He’s been foolish because anybody who uses an 084 number is costing the people who call them a blooming fortune.”

The 0845 number had been listed as the contact for Sir Greg’s East Yorkshire constituency office since at least September 2011.

This week it was replaced with a local number on both the Parliamentary website and the MP’s own site.

(Image: Getty)

Sir Greg said: “I hadn’t realised it was only displaying the one number and that’s why it’s been changed. I don’t want people to have to pay any more than they should.”

A directory by the firm Uboss claimed Sir Greg’s line was also earning its owner a penny-a-minute “service charge” on top of the 55p taken by phone firms.

But Sir Greg insisted if a service charge existed, not a penny of it went to him. He vigorously denied making any money from the line.

Government guidance in 2015 said departments must “justify” the continued use of 0845 numbers.

And months ago the Department for Work and Pensions ditched its own “non-geographic” phone lines following pressure from Jeremy Corbyn .