A former Lord Mayor of Chester raised concerns after an unexpected charge appeared on his bank statement after he bought a festive wreath from Chester Christmas Market.

Former councillor John Ebo accepts the trader himself was not complicit in any way and Marketing Cheshire, who organise the market, are at a loss to explain what has happened.

Mr Ebo, who lives in Newton, explained what happened: “I made a small purchase from one of the stalls, a Christmas wreath for my front door, for £8. I paid using my contactless bank card. On checking my statement I noted a ‘foreign exchange’ charge has been levied at the same time for £1.50.

"The purchase therefore cost me £9.50 in total but the extra charge was not flagged up either by signage, by the sales assistant nor printed on the receipt. The good’s pricing was advertised in GBP.

“It is, of course, a ‘continental market’ and the receipt was from a Dutch retailer but should not the public be made aware of the potential extra charge?”

Former councillor John Ebo

Mr Ebo, who is not seeking a refund, added: “I asked my bank to make enquires on the charge and they have reported that the charge was made by Mastercard (the debit card provider) but it was not listed as a Euro transaction but as ‘STG AMT’ which I assume means something of the like; ‘Sterling Amendment’ – a foreign currency transaction by another name. Clearly something is amiss here.”

Marketing Cheshire has now investigated the issues.

A spokeswoman said: “The trader in question has traded with us every year with no complaints or problems previously.

“We have checked with the owner and he and the onsite stall manager have confirmed that the same card machine has been used for the past two years with no problems, and no complaints, no extra charges. It is set to GBP transactions only as every year.

“Our site manager Mark Bartle has tested the card machine with a £1 transaction on his debit card and can confirm that he has only been charged £1.”

Marketing Cheshire wondered if the issue was with customer’s card provider.

The spokeswoman added: “The trader will do a full refund if required. As previously reiterated, this is one of our most reliable and trusted traders, and we have not had any issues with them, or from consumers in relation to them previously.”