If it was fiction, it might be rejected as too far-fetched.

But the reality is that a team of “business transformation managers”, employed to save money, has cost Birmingham City Council £36,573 in taxi fares.

The cost of chauffeuring these managers across the city will come as a surprise to council staff who have faced pay cuts – or redundancy – as a result of the business transformation programme.

Far from imposing control over costs, the business transformation scheme appears itself to be entirely lacking in supervision.

It must be said that the decision to employ 200 people in the business transformation department, confirmed by the council as a result of our inquiry into expenses, is also surprising.

Efforts to save money can themselves cost money, at least in the short term. They may still make sense in the long run.

But is a team of 200 really needed? One wonders whether the same tough standards are being applied to spending in the business transformation department as in other parts of the city council.

In total, Birmingham City Council’s bill for taxi journeys and private hire vehicles reached £1.4 million last year.

So how many cars were taken, how many staff were involved and where did they go?

Nobody knows. The council officials signing the cheques – on behalf of the taxpayers who actually pay the bills – don’t have the foggiest idea.

Spending has been broken down by council department, so we can be assured that the bulk of the taxi hire fees are paid by the Adults and Communities directorate, which transports elderly people, and adults with learning disabilities and mental health issues to days centres.

It seems that this is an essential service, expensive as it may be.

But the taxi firms used by the council often do not identify the person responsible for booking a trip or state the destination of the journey when submitting bills.

So on occasions when a council employee is using a taxi, it is apparently impossible to identify who they are and what they used it for.

Was it really necessary for the school effectiveness team to spend £36,000 on taxis and hired cars? There is no way of finding out.

Not only is it impossible for the public to be reassured that Birmingham City Council is spending its money wisely, because it can’t produce the figures, but it looks very much as if nobody within the authority knows either.

It’s not only council staff, at the sharp end of a major efficiency drive, who will feel particular sensitivity about the way the authority manages its money.

Most of us are feeling the pinch at the moment or worried about our futures at the moment.

Banks are still reluctant to provide credit, making life difficult for many otherwise successful businesses.

Hundreds of people stand to lose their jobs because of the Government’s decision to axe a range of agencies in the West Midlands.

And while the latest unemployment figures are reasonably positive, the Bank of England has warned there is more pain and uncertainty to come before the economy gets back to normal.

So it is perhaps even more important than usual that taxpayers’ money is spent wisely, and that everyone can see it is spent wisely.

In the case of Birmingham City Council, a lack of controls must lead to fears that it is not spent well. If the council wants the support of the public and its own staff as it makes more difficult savings, it needs to do more to prove that it is controlling spending.