An Oxford college is among a group of organisations facing demands for payments of up to 1,000 for appearing in a European directory of business trade and cultural services.

Queen's College is featured in the UK section of the 1,200-page First European City Guide along with other groups, including charities, which have now discovered they have to pay for the privilege.

Many of those included admit that they signed unsolicited faxes or forms without realising that the small print committed them to a charge.

Trading standards officers have offered support to the organisations that face demands for payment from the Lichtenstein publisher Tour and Travel Guide Est Linda Irving-Bell, home bursar and fellow of Queen's, said: "We received unsolicited correspondence asking us to confirm that the address and other details of the college were correct. We did not realise at any time we were committing ourselves to a charge."

Many of the organisations involved, which include a Buckinghamshire parish council and the Hampshire branch of the St John Ambulance, have refused to pay.

Oxford's trading standards officers have warned firms and organisations about the pitfalls of responding to unsolicited fax mail without carefully checking the small print.