Two former employees of Serco, the company that operates London’s Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme, have been pleaded guilty of fraud after making bogus refund payments through the scheme totalling £46,000 to friends.
Nana Boateng of Enfield and Jose Dias from Clapton, both aged 26, each admitted on one count of fraud by abuse of position at Southwark Crown Court, reports BBC News. The court was told that the fraud took place between September and December 2010.
Although details of how they misappropriated the money was not reported, the early months of the scheme, launched in July 2010, saw Transport for London (TfL) have to refund may members who had been incorrectly billed.
In the vast majority of cases, those refunds were for fairly small amounts of between £1 and £10, but in September 2010 we reported about one member who was refunded £900 and also given £200 compensation after he was repeatedly charged for non-return of bikes due a fault with docking stations.
Also appearing at Southwark Crown Court was another former Serco employee, Devina Joseph-Albert, aged 22 and from Clapton, pleaded guilty to a charge of money laundering, as did six other defendants at an earlier hearing.
Those are her brother Darnel Joseph Albert, aged 20 and Elizabeth Spencer, aged 36, both also from Clapton, 24-year-old Zakir Bhad from Forest Gate, Samuel Njie, 26, of Leyton, and George Hayden, 30, and Sakinah MacAuley, both of Enfield.
All nine are due to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on 11 May.
Simon has been news editor at road.cc since 2009, reporting on 10 editions and counting of pro cycling’s biggest races such as the Tour de France, stories on issues including infrastructure and campaigning, and interviewing some of the biggest names in cycling. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, his background has proved invaluable in reporting on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, and the bike industry. He splits his time between London and Cambridge, and loves taking his miniature schnauzer Elodie on adventures in the basket of her Elephant Bike.