Catch me bus company finally caught out!
Suzanne Bailey, 35 years, of Partridge Drive Accrington was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment at Preston Crown Court on Friday, for fraudulently obtaining more than half a million pounds from the Government and for using forged insurance certificates in respect of uninsured buses. The day before she was also ordered by a judge to hand over almost £200,000 of the profit she made from her crimes.
Bailey was the proprietor and operator of a bus company in the Blackburn/Accrington areas, ‘BuzyBuz Ltd’ (formerly known as ‘DSP Travel’ and latterly as ‘Catch Me Bus.Com’). She had also purchased a title (LADY of the Manor) and was known as ‘Lady Bailey’.
In November 2003, following a complaint from the Transport Department of Blackburn with Darwen Council, police officers arrested her and her husband, who was an employee of the bus company, in connection with the use of forged insurance certificates in respect of the buses that they operated on subsidised routes and for which she received rebates from the Council. Within days of this action Buzybuz ceased operating and Accrington CID began investigating allegations of obtaining money by deception involving fuel rebate claims made by her from the Department for Transport. The fraudulent claims occurred over a 27 month period between May 2002 and March 2004.
She was subsequently charged with a number of offences (as was her husband) and appeared at Liverpool Crown Court in March 2006 where she pleaded guilty to two counts of using forged insurance certificates, one of possessing a forged insurance certificate and three of obtaining money by deception from the Department for Transport. (Charges against her husband were not proceeded with).
The subsidy was in respect of operating buses on under-subscribed routes and was under a scheme introduced some years ago by the Government to assist free market competition. It is known as the Bus Service Operators Grant. Bailey submitted false claims in respect of the mileage and fuel used on the routes her company operated.
The effect of the forged insurance certificates meant that buses were being used to carry passengers on public roads without any insurance.
The defendants’ assets were all restrained by the High Court in London in March 2005 and remain under restraint.
The matter was referred to the North West Regional Asset Recovery Team (RART) for a financial investigation to take place and at Preston Crown Court on 8th June 2006 Judge Douglas Brown QC stated that Bailey had benefited from the fraud to the amount of £626,511 and he made a confiscation order for £195,315, which is the value of the assets she still has available. These include her house in Accrington and land she owns in Dartmouth, Devon. She was ordered to pay the money within 12 months or face a further 2 years imprisonment in default.
On Friday 9th June Bailey was sentenced for her crimes. She received 6 months for each of the forgery offences and two years for each of the frauds, to run concurrently. In sentencing her, Judge Brown said, ‘Greed rather than need motivated these offences’. He also said that Bailey had been living an ‘upwardly mobile life’ by defrauding council taxpayers.
Detective Sergeant Mark Lee, who led the CID investigation, said after Bailey was sentenced, ‘I am pleased that the judge has imposed a sentence that reflects the gravity of Suzanne Bailey’s crimes. She defrauded the Government and then set about covering her tracks and obstructing the authorities at every turn. This is the culmination of a two-year investigation by the Road Policing Unit and the CID in Accrington and by the Regional Asset Recovery Team. I would also like to thank the Department for Transport and Blackburn with Darwen Council for their valuable assistance in what was a complex enquiry’.
Detective Chief Inspector Mike Kellett, the Head of the RART, said, ‘This is another case where the law has worked to take away the profit from crime. Suzanne Bailey stole from the taxpayer and put passengers on her buses at risk. We’re now taking from her the profit she made from her crimes and reinforcing the message that 'Crime doesn’t pay’.
Mr Kellett also pointed out that the investigation into Bailey’s assets was continuing. ‘We have some evidence to suggest that she owns property in France, although she has denied this several times. Enquiries are in hand with the French police and if and when we find it, we will take her back to court. She should be in absolutely no doubt about that’.