The BBC faces fines of about £300,000 over the faked phone-in scandals it emerged last night as producers suggested that more disclosures could be in the pipeline.

As the broadcaster began suspending producers involved with the controversial programmes, Ofcom, the communications regulator, asked for details on how programme staff were able to “win” phone-in competitions on Comic Relief, Sport Reliefand Children in Need. A full inquiry will almost certainly follow.

Meanwhile, the tight timescale of the BBC’s inquiry into the scandal, which left some producers unable to certify their programmes before the inquiry’s deadline, has led to speculation about more evidence of fakery.

The regulator said that the apparently faked competitions “appear to raise serious questions under Ofcom’s broadcasting code, which requires competitions to be conducted fairly”. It added it would decide on “next steps” once it has more information from the BBC.

Earlier this month Ofcom fined the BBC £50,000 for one breach, when production staff faked the winner of a phone-in for a Blue Peter competition. With the BBC owning up to six more breaches, all at least as serious, a fine of £300,000 in total can be expected.

Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, also signalled a willingness to investigate if asked to by Ofcom, although there were no plans to do that at this stage. Sir Ian said that “it is probably a bit too early” to see if police action was required. He added: “I think it needs a bit more time to understand what’s going on.”

Separately, the BBC began suspending “a small number” of unnamed staff, understood to be about ten, including an unnamed producer at the children’s programme TMi, as it tried to pick up the pieces after Wednesday’s revelations. However, the action prompted anger from unions and employees who felt unhappy that no senior managers were suspended.

Luke Crawley, an assistant general secretary with Bectu, the broadcast union, said that Peter Fincham, the Controller of BBC One, should also be suspended after he released a misleading promotional clip of the Queen that claimed to show Her Majesty storming off in a huff from a photo-shoot with Annie Leibovitz.

“If Peter Fincham’s defence is that he was acting on what he had been told, then isn’t that the same for some producers who are now being suspended? It’s not necessarily a defence for anybody, but the point is that senior managers and producers are not being treated consistently,” Mr Crawley said. There was speculation over further possible disclosures because the BBC had conducted such a short inquiry before revealing that it had discovered the six examples of fakery.

On Thursday last week, BBC bosses led by Jana Bennett, the director of vision, asked staff to admit to any other breaches in the aftermath of the Blue Peter judgment. By this Tuesday, the BBC had accumulated enough information to identify six potential breaches and pass on details to BBC trustees, before their meeting with Mark Thompson on Wednesday morning – a timescale that left only four working days to uncover the abuses and had broadcasters questioning exactly when BBC executives discovered there were problems with Children in Need and Comic Relief.

BBC executives conceded last night that they had “some niggles” about “one or two” of the faked incidents prior to emailing all staff asking for further examples last Thursday. The BBC refused to specify the exact incidents, although one person said they were among “the less high profile” examples – implying that they were not about Comic Relief, Sport Relief, or Children in Need.

Independent producers who work for the BBC complained that they could not certify all their programmes in time for the BBC’s deadline.

One independent producer – one of the top ten used by the corporation – said that the BBC contacted him last Friday and asked for details of any breaches by Tuesday. On the basis that it would be impossible to meet such a tight deadline, the internal inquiry is expected to run on far longer, meaning that more disclosures could be in the pipeline.

Liz Kershaw, the 6 Music DJ, whose Saturday programme included a fake-phone-in that ran in 2005 and 2006, is still expected to go on air at 10am, transmitting an apology. She has worked on Radio 1 and Five Live, and for BBC Coventry and Warwickshire.

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