THE identity of the winning bidder for Torbay's former mayoral limo is shrouded in mystery.

Torbay Council opted earlier this year to sell the chairman's civic Jaguar as part of a cost-cutting exercise.

It was decided that members of the public could bid for the vehicle and its personalised number plate, M40 YOR, on an internet auction.

Bidding for the car ended last Friday, and the council has released only limited details about the sale.

However, the car has sold for at least £5,100 as one of the unsuccessful bids, made by Bay businessman Arthur Christian, was for this amount.

A spokesman said the Jaguar XJ8 Sovereign's new owner will not be identified, in line with the Data Protection Act.

The council also insisted on withholding the winning bid's total because the money is not yet in the local authority's bank account.

Cllr Robert Excell, who submitted a bid for the Jaguar, criticised the decision to suppress the information, and he said the online bidding format was faulty.

He added: "I put a bid in as a private individual. I wanted to use the car for my photographic business for weddings and other events.

"My bid, which wasn't successful, had to be submitted online.

"It took me nearly four hours, and that was with help from the software people talking me thorough it.

"I wanted to drop the bid in by hand to the town hall. That would have been better, everybody should have been able to do it that way, but I was told it wasn't possible.

"I was also told I can't know what the winning bid was or who the winner was. Surely, the public has the right to transparency on such matters.

"I'm very disappointed that it's being kept under wraps. How do we know the price was satisfactory? The figure needs to be disclosed."

Torbay Council said it received six bids for the four-door long-wheel-base Jaguar, with one bid coming from outside South Devon.

The 1999 vehicle has sapphire blue paintwork, a four-litre petrol engine, and has 87,000 miles on the clock.

There were reports of the bidding deadline being extended by four hours, despite the submission period running for four weeks.

When asked about problems with the online bidding system, a council spokesman said: "No complaints were received through the council's complaints system.

"Any potential bidder who had any problems using the Pro-contract system was given guidance and support by the Corporate Procurement Team.

"A system-generated email was sent to every registered bidder to ensure all had visibility and transparency of the extension period.

"The deadline was extended so that the Procurement Team and System Provider could investigate whether there was a technical issue with uploading bids or whether there was a problem with the bidders' own IT system.

"To enable this, the deadline had to be extended and the opportunity given to all interested parties to submit a bid."

Arthur Christian, a Torquay businessman, submitted a £5,100 bid for the Jaguar, but was unsuccessful.

He said: "If the council is waiting for the money to go into its account, I can understand them not making that detail public now.

"But once the money's gone through, the figure should be available. To withhold it would be wrong. It'll show up in the council's accounts anyway."