Drivers on booze scam are jailed
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• Two drivers working for Dudley haulier Mark Nixon received jail sentences of up to six months after a court found them guilty of smuggling alcohol. Nixon was jailed for two years. Driver John Simcox was jailed for four months and Edmond Bacon for six after Wolverhampton Crown Court heard the company carried up to seven loads of spirits or beer from Belgium each day.
Nixon organised the dutydodging runs to try to pay off a £ 45,000 tax bill for his West Bromwich haulage business, Nixon Light Haulage. Innocent drivers took his trucks out to Belgium without being told thousands of pounds of cash for buying more booze had been hidden in them.
Nixon faces a financial hearing to see if any of the cash can he recovered. "Where dishonest people cheat as you did, the sentence must operate not only to punish you, but to deter others," said judge Christopher Hodson.