A competition to win a charity minibus has been scrapped amid claims it was being rigged.

The Kent MS Therapy Centre in Canterbury was among the front-runners in the online race to win a £36,000 vehicle to help take users to and from the centre.

But organisers Axis Foundation pulled the contest after discovering rules were being flouted “across the board”, with 100 instances of multiple voting from the same IP address and 472 votes from the same source.

An investigation also identified several IP addresses outside the UK, with others on “suspicious activity lists”, suggesting automated voting may have been used.

The competition closed on January 9, with the MS Therapy Centre closely behind the London-based Bromley by Bow Community Organisation, which took the lead with a late surge of votes.

But the discovery of multiple votes for the three charities involved led Axis to void the contest, adding it was “deeply disheartened by the turn of events”.

Chairman Peter Varney said: “We had hoped that the online vote would simply be an opportunity for supporters to get behind their charity and help us identify the cause that would benefit most from the minibus.

“Sadly, some overzealous third parties have taken it upon themselves to submit multiple votes, which we deem improper and causes the voting data to be discounted.

"So many genuine supporters did take the time to vote and their efforts have been undone by those responsible..." - Peter Varney

“The particularly sad thing about the situation is that so many genuine supporters did take the time to vote and their efforts have been undone by those responsible.”

Mr Varney added the minibus would still be given away, but who will receive it will be based on the original application of the three charities, not the votes.

He added: “The situation is regrettable, but we hope that all parties accept the decision and reasons behind it.

“We are confident the bus will still offer a huge benefit wherever it is awarded, as all three of these charities do great work for the people they support directly and the wider community.”

The MS Therapy Centre’s fundraising manager Helen Wathen says members and supporters are disappointed the contest has been abandoned.

She said: “We would like to thank everyone who took the trouble to vote for us because we had tremendous support from all over the county.

“I was monitoring the votes and saw that Bromley by Bow had surged ahead in the closing hours so thought we had probably lost it, because they had 53% and us 45%.

“But I was also aware that concerns had been raised about the validity of the voting system some days earlier.

"All we can do now is keep our fingers crossed and hope the decision goes our way when the trustees of the Axis Foundation meet next month to decide who will get the minibus.”

A decision on who will get the minibus will be announced after the next meeting of the trustees, scheduled in mid-February.