How my car got the full Audi service ... with 27 joyrides included

When Mark Reece took his car for a routine service, he expected it to receive professional care and attention.

But when the businessman came to collect his beloved Audi RS4, it was not exactly in the condition in which he left it.

In fact the £50,000 estate had been driven no fewer than 27 times while in the care of the registered Audi garage.

On several of these occasions it had been mysteriously racing around his home town at more than twice the legal speed limit.

The excursions were exposed by a tiny security device fixed to his car, which records every journey it takes.

'When I got the car back and looked at the log, I couldn't believe it', said Mr Reece, an internet entrepreneur.

'There is no need to start a car 27 times and drive it around recklessly to do a service.

'That's not a test drive, especially when sometimes it was driven outside the garage's opening hours.

'I've caught them redhanded. Someone was speeding on what I know is a 30mph residential road with a school on it. It's shocking.'

Mr Reece, 37, left his car with his local Audi garage in Bexley, South-East London, for 11 days while he was abroad on business.

During the first couple of days at the garage the tracker logs would suggest the vehicle was moved, and the engine turned on and off. But on the third day, it was bombed around the suburban local area at 60mph. This happened twice the following day, and again a week later.

Altogether it had notched up 16 miles on the road, although he says the garage's documentation claims it had only been driven four miles.

The fast show: Mr Reece's Audi R54 broke the speed limit during 27 'joyrides'

Penhill Road, where the car was driven at 62.1mph, has a maximum speed of 30mph imposed after a series of accidents. The other roads where speeding of up to 68mph occurred are also residential - with speed limits of 30mph.

When Mr Reece came to pick his car up, he claims he found oil spilt in the boot and a scratch down the rear quarter panel.

But he had a bigger shock when reading the log from the £1,000 Tracker Response monitoring system.

'The garage are denying they did anything untoward, but clearly that is not the case,' added Mr Reece, a father of two from Rochester in Kent.

He claims to has failed to get a satisfactory explanation from the dealership.

A spokesman for Audi UK said: 'We are looking into the alleged issues relating to the service on Mark Reece's Audi RS4.

'Whilst this servicing work is the direct responsibility of the Audi Centre commissioned to carry this out, Audi UK does maintain and enforce very high standards throughout our franchised network.

'Our initial inspection of the data provided by Mr Reece has been inconclusive.

'Until the data from the Tracker fitted to the customer's car can be more fully interrogated and verified, we cannot comment further.

'We will continue to maintain a close dialogue with the customer and the centre with a view to resolving all the issues.'