In this article we originally stated that The Garth Road MOT Centre in Amenity Way was the Merton Council garage involved in an internal audit regarding the alleged overspending. We would like to make clear the audit does not include activities by The Garth Road MOT Centre. The business to which the investigation relates to is Merton Transport Services, 15 to 33 Amenity Way, Garth Road Depot, Morden. We would like to apologise for any confusion this has caused. 

A leaked audit has exposed serious mismanagement at a Merton Council garage which last year overspent its budget by more than half a million pounds.

More than 31 contractors were used by the vehicle maintenance centre in Morden last year, but no contract standing orders were undertaken - where three quotations must be sought for jobs costing more than £10,000.

The 29-page internal audit from December also found managers had not declared their relationships with contractors which they are required to do.

One electrician, who was seen by the auditor using the garage to service his own vehicle, was the husband of the fleet maintenance manager’s son’s godmother.

A contractor was also found to be charging the council for the same faults in vehicles over a short period of time.

Contractors have since been told they will be responsible, and no extra costs will be paid, if completed work is faulty.

The garage in Amenity Way employs eight workmen and services the council’s 180 vehicles - from electric cars to gritters and rubbish trucks.

The council denied any audit findings have not been resolved ahead of a review in September.

A summary of the audit was seen in March by the council’s general purposes committee - which is responsible for holding council officers to account.

The summary, which was also published on the council’s website, did not include details of managers not declaring their relationships with contractors who they were employing to do jobs.

It also omitted details from the report of the garage alarm code not having been changed since the early 1990’s when the garage was set up and contractors seen entering the garage’s admin offices unaccompanied.

Serious findings shared with the committee included:

- Incomplete paper and electronic records for vehicles worked on, leaving "little or no audit trail".

- Brake tests not carried out in some cases as part of the standard safety check so vehicles were released back to the driver in a potentially serious state.

- No stock control system operating in the workshop leaving stock potentially open to theft.

- Job sheets doctored by staff so scheduled services appeared to meet Driver and Vehicles Standards Agency (DVSA) one-week requirements when they took up to six weeks.

- Unauthorised scrap metal merchants were being used so the council did not receive any money for old vehicles.

Wimbledon Times:

The full 29-page report was leaked to the Wimbledon Guardian last week 

Councillor Peter McCabe, who chairs the committee, said it is normal for members to receive a summary of audits to save time and the committee would be reviewing progress at the garage in September.

He said: "We will be asking searching questions to ensure all the recommendations have been implemented in full and if they haven’t we will hold officers to account.

"We have to make difficult decisions in terms of services. We can’t afford to waste money."

The vehicle maintenance centre has an annual budget of about £1.1m and had not been audited since March 2008. 

A source claimed there is still no stock control at the garage, although security has improved and staff can now only access the garage with a swipe card.

A council spokeswoman said: "The road safety of our fleet is paramount which is why we commissioned audit to carry out an investigation last year.

"As a result, audit made a number of recommendations for improvements to the way we manage our vehicles, all of which have been actioned.

"Subsequently the DVSA also conducted an independent inspection, praising the management of our vehicle maintenance and rating our fleet as fully safe and roadworthy.

"An independent staff investigation was also carried out and the necessary disciplinary action has been taken.

"We are fully confident in the way our fleet is managed and that all our vehicles are safe and compliant to deliver a wide range of services across the borough every day."

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