An audit over the collection of thousands of pounds of Oxfordshire court fines is under way after allegations of abuse by bailiffs.

Bailiff firm Drakes has been collecting unpaid fines for Oxfordshire's magistrates courts since April.

Now Her Majesty's Court Service (HMCS) is auditing the payments and collections after allegations of impropriety were made against the firm's London operation in a BBC TV programme called Whistleblower.

The firm has collected £328,609 in fines since it was contracted to work with Oxfordshire's magistrates' courts in April.

A 59-year-old woman from Garsington, who did not want to be named, said bailiffs from Drakes had told her daughter if she did not pay money owed immediately she would spend the night in police cells. The woman's mother has filed a complaint to Oxford Magistrates' Court.

She said: "I don't know why the courts want to use this system. I think it's wrong."

The programme, screened in September, saw undercover reporter Jim Wheble working alongside bailiffs in North London. He said: "I found criminality and corruption so widespread that bailiffs brag about their crimes."

Court service spokesman Mark Kram said an internal investigation, including auditing fines paid in Oxfordshire, was under way.

He said: "We treat allegations of impropriety very seriously and when the investigation is completed we will take appropriate action - which could mean terminating the contract.

"We want to do this as quickly as possible but if anyone has had problems with them they should make a complaint to the court."

Frank Millerick, managing director of Drakes Group Ltd, declined to comment on specific cases, but said the BBC report only followed the firm's staff working for magistrates courts in London.

He added: "There were certain factual misrepresentations in the programme. It also raised a number of issues that Drakes has already addressed.

"Certain points, however, will be the subject of both internal and external investigations."