Mr Scargill,74, is taking legal action against the NUM at Sheffield Crown Court, claiming he is owed more than £15,000 towards the cost of a car, as well as payment of other benefits including phone bills.

The 74-year-old, who retired as the union’s honorary president last December, believes he should have been given the money under his old employment contract.

The court heard Mr Scargill ‘thought his legal entitlements were being trodden on’ when the union’s Yorkshire Area Trust Fund offered him just £50 towards a car in January 2011. 

He also wants the fund to pay his landline and mobile phone bills – an allowance that was stopped in April 2010 – alongside costs and interest.

Mr Scargill was president of the NUM until 2002, and led the union during the year-long miners’ strike from 1984 to 1985.

But in 2010 he was told he no longer qualified for full financial membership.

The court heard he was asked to supply the fund with a list of the duties he performed for them, after telling them he needed the car for union work.

James Laddie, representing the NUM, said Mr Scargill prepared a document but didn’t send it to the union.

Mr Scargill – who lives at Worsbrough Bridge in Barnsley and leads the Socialist Labour Party – signed the contract after retiring in 2002, putting him on a pay grade normally worth around £26,000.

He is also embroiled in a separate High Court dispute with the NUM over a £1.5 million London flat.