Council officers were criticised for delays in replacing security staff at the Westgate car park in Oxford, which led to a shock crime wave, writes Roseena Parveen.

Officers ran out of cash in their budget to renew security guards' contracts - and car crime rocketed during October as a result.

Now an investigation is under way to find out what caused the delay.

Council procedure for releasing more cash from the budget requires approval from leading members of the three main political groups.

In October, as contracts ended with the current security guards, several councillors refused permission to fund more staff because, they say, it was not made clear why the budget had run out in the first place.

At the city highways committee meeting yesterday, Green Party councillor Paul Ingram attacked officers for failing to provide enough information.

He said: "The process was held up because councillors were not given enough information with which to make a decision.

"I did not give permission for more cash to be released because I wanted to know exactly why the money had run out in the first place. I felt we were being bounced into increasing the budget.

"What would have persuaded me is an explanation as to why the budget was spent, why so many customer services staff were hired in the first part of the financial year, and why officers thought they could suddenly unilaterally increase the budget when all three parties had clearly stated they should work within the budget allocated.

"It's simply not good enough."

Liberal Democrat George Kershaw said: "The consequences of not making the decision to release cash was a horrendous crime wave."

Committee chairman Jean Fooks (Lib Dem) suggested officers could in future be given more powers to make such decision themselves.

She said: "We must make sure it never happens again."

Since the crime wave, cash set aside for another project has been transferred to the security budget. Four new security staff have been taken on and more are expected.