Bolton Council has given its support to an under-fire company which has been hit by controversy.

The local authority said it has never had to complain about the service provided by APCOA Parking Ltd (UK) which last week saw 11 of its former employees sacked for serious malpractice.

The firm was also recently the subject of a two-page investigation in a national tabloid, claiming that wardens in London were breaking Lambeth Council's rules and issuing "dodgy tickets".

The newspaper said this would lead to more revenue for the local authority and increase the company's chances of winning other contracts.

APCOA has operated on-street wardens in Bolton since September when the council took over the service from the police and awarded the contract to the German-owned company.

The firm also runs three town centre car parks, at the recently refurbished Octagon, the Market Place and Bow Street.

A spokesman for Bolton Council said the firm had operated in the town for many years and the council was happy with the way it ran its service.

He added: "We have never had any problems with APCOA. We have never had any cause to complain.

"There's nothing in the contract about issuing a certain number of tickets or raising so much money.

"If people do raise an objection, Bolton Council is a member of an independent adjudication panel which will make a ruling in a dispute over parking law.

"Any surplus money raised will be ploughed into traffic management schemes in the town."

Christopher Wigdor, a spokesman for the firm, said APCOA had 10 years' experience in this country and the parking attendants in Bolton were using hi-tech, hand-held computers which meant staff could not cheat the system.

He added: "As far as I know we have not suffered any problems in Bolton. The computers are linked to a central system which is constantly scrutinised and any mistakes or irregularities are thrown up."

The contract awarded to APCOA was drawn up with the help of an independent company and is based on traffic management guidelines to keep routes free and traffic moving if areas get congested. The 11 members of staff in London were sacked for falsifying entries in their notebooks and issuing false tickets.