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£11k fine for £1m Tube scam
A businessman who tried to con London Underground out of more than £1m in fake compensation claims was ordered to pay an £11,000 fine - but was spared jail.
Fraudster Ronald Mayers, 54, pretended his printing firm had been forced to shut down because of plans to extend the East London line.
But he failed to reveal his company was based at two sites - only one of which was affected by the proposed extension.
The extension never happened but Mayers was arrested by British Transport Police in 2004 following an investigation into the claim.
Mayers, of Montford Place, Putney Heath, was convicted of two counts of false accounting, given an 18-month suspended sentence and disqualified from being a company director for three years.
At Kingston Crown Court, Judge Paul Dodgson also ordered Mayers to pay £11,000 in prosecution costs after hearing he owned a £430,000 house which he rented out.
Judge Dodson said Mayers only avoided jail because there was no evidence money had been stashed away.
"You quite deliberately told lies to obtain money from London Underground and you did it not just to your surveyor but also to London Underground and I suspect to your accountant and employees," he said.
| “You quite deliberately told lies to obtain money from London Underground and you did it not just to your surveyor but also to London Underground and I suspect to your accountant and employees." | | Judge Dodson |
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Jurors heard London Underground had issued Mayers' firm Spirerose with a compulsory purchase order for its office in Holywell Lane, Shoreditch, to make way for the new rail line.
Companies affected by such orders are entitled to compensation for any costs incurred during relocation, transportation and in some cases total closure of the business.
Mayers failed to reveal the business also operated from Leeside Industrial Estate in Enfield and in March 2003, wrongly claimed the company had closed down.
He received £200,000 by claiming his specialist staff needed payment while he looked for new premises.
Mayers also claimed for the costs of storing plant machinery while looking for a new site.
7:38am Friday 2nd May 2008
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