1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196 
'Discount Concealed' allegation in bus grant case
Page 23
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE trial of five bus companies and eight men accused of offences over Government grants for new buses opened last week at Newport Crown Court. The case is expected to last about three weeks. (CM Nov 1).
Before the court were Moseley (Gloucester) Ltd, and director Christopher John Lane, 41, of Beecham Court, Loughborough; John Williams, 37, bus operator of Nottage Road, Porthcawl; Henley's Bus Services Ltd, Abertillery, and direc tor Arthur Henley, 60, of Tillery Street, Abertillery; Alan Barrington Smith, 34, bus operator of Denbigh Road, Newport; Edmunds Omnibus Services Ltd, Ebbw Vale and director James Barry Cunningham, 62, of Rassau, Ebbw Vale.
Moseley Ltd and Lane and Williams, are accused of dishonestly obtaining from the Department of the Environment for Mr Williams, £671.08 by falsely representing that he paid £8,763.55 for a new bus.
Moseley Ltd and Mr Lane are also accused of falsifying for Mr Williams' gain, a receipt stating they received £8,763.55 from Mr Williams.
It is further alleged that Moseley Ltd and Messrs Lane and Smith committed similar offences concerning £646.50 for Mr Smith for a new bus purported to cost £8,724.
Moseley, Mr Lane, Edmunds and Mr Cunningham are accused of the same offences concerning £707.59 for the Edmunds firm for a new bus purported to cost £11,358.02.
It is also alleged that the Moseley firm and Mr Lane committed similar offences concerning £1,564.60 for the gain of Hills (Tredegar) Ltd, Tredegar, for two new buses purported to cost £21,937.34.
Moseley, Mr Lane, Henleys and Mr Henley are accused of attempting to dishonestly obtain £671.08 for a new bus purported to cost £11,233.50 and of committing the receipt offence. All have pleaded not guilty.
Mr Esyr Lewis, QC, prosecuting, said that Government grants were made to persons operating buses for approved capital expenditure incurred in buying new buses for carrying the public.
The grant amounted to 25 per cent of the net expenditure but rose later to 50 per cent to encourage operators to buy new buses.
He said that Mr Lane was a contract sales manager and a director of Moseley, which was one of a small group of associated companies based at Loughborough which supplied new buses.
Mr Lewis said that in every case Moseley gave the bus operator who bought a bus from them a substantial discount off the price of the vehicle. ' He alleged that when Mr Lane was seen by the police, he told them it was the practice of the company to grant such a discount.
Mr Lewis said a discount was concealed by the bus operators when they applied for a grant to the Department of the Environment for a new bus. He alleged that the Department was deceived in each case by receipts issued on behalf of Moseley on the authority of Mr Lane which purported to show that operators had paid more money for buses than they had.