Express Motors: Bus boss 'had no need to fiddle', jury hears
- Published
A bus company boss has denied fraudulently using his over-60s pass to gain money for journeys which were never made.
Cash was claimed from Gwynedd council for non-existent trips, with one card used 23,000 times, prosecutors said.
Express Motors' Eric Wyn Jones, 77 and sons Ian Wyn Jones, 53, Kevin Wyn Jones, 54 and Keith Jones, 51, deny two frauds at Caernarfon Crown Court.
The jury has retired to consider its verdict.
Eric Wyn Jones of Bontnewydd, Caernarfon, denied fraudulently swiping cards, adding: "We had no need to fiddle."
He said he lost a wallet containing his own concessionary fare card and denied ever using it to perform unexplained swipes or instructing staff to swipes cards.
Barrister John Wyn Williams, for Kevin Jones, the firm's transport manager, told the jury the prosecution case was based on "supposition and speculation".
Tens of thousands of fraudulent swipes were made with more than half a million pounds put through bank accounts without paying tax, the court has heard.
The jury was also told how one card was swiped after its owner had died.
Claims for the money were lodged with Gwynedd council which was then refunded through the Welsh Government's all-Wales concessionary travel scheme.
Express Motors, formed in 1909, operates all over north west Wales and was taken over by Mr Jones in 1977.
Judge Timothy Petts said members of the jury would have to consider whether there was a deliberate fraud or just "mistakes."
- Published4 September 2018
