Taxi Driver Online

Director plundered £48k from firm


THE FINANCIAL director of a taxi firm who plundered thousands from the till has walked free from court.

A judge told Gary Dicks he was guilty of a ‘gross breach of trust’ after he siphoned the cash from Starline Taxis over a 15-month period.

But he said he was not going to send the 40-year-old to jail to make it easier for him to meet a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Instead he passed a one-year jail term suspended for two years and told him to do 200 hours of community service.

Philip Warren, prosecuting, told Swindon crown court how the Warminster cab company had been run by Tony Berridge and his brother since the 1970s.

Dicks, of Woodcock Road, Warminster, started working for them as a driver and then moved on to working in the office as the cashier and financial manager.

The court heard he was regarded by his bosses ‘almost as a member of the family’ during the two decades he knew them.

Dicks had sole responsibility for the financial side of the small firm, which was mainly in cash.

In 2007 there were irregularities in the banking and it became clear money was going missing.

Tony Berridge called Dicks in to speak to him but he denied any wrongdoing and, with a heavy heart, Mr Berridge called in the police.

Dicks told detectives he had done nothing wrong but when he was questioned again in August 2007 it was put to him about £10,000 was missing.

After some initial denials he accepted he had taken some cash saying one of the drivers had a gambling problem and he was giving him the money.

He also said other drivers had not been handing over the money correctly.

The company then paid for an accountant to go through the books and found more than £19,750 was missing.

Dicks told the police he had taken between £6-6,500 but when the case came to court insisted he had only pinched £4,000.

The two sides eventually settled on a figure of £10,000.

Dicks pleaded guilty to one count of theft.

As a result of the offending his finances were examined and he was found to have benefited from criminal conduct to the tune of £48,463.73p.

But only £38,700 remained in assets, mostly the house he owns with his wife, and he will have to repay the smaller sum.

Mike Jeary, defending, said his client had no previous convictions and accepted he had committed a serious breach of trust.

But he said one of the drivers was a dangerous criminal who had made threats to Dicks which is why he handed him the money.

As well as the money from work, he said his client even took out an £11,000 bank loan, put the money in a carrier bag, and handed it to the man.

“He really has no idea how much money he got away with,” he said.

Dicks should have told either his bosses or the police at the start, he said, and avoided getting into the situation where he was continutally stealing.

Judge Charles Wade said: “I find it difficult to accept that you say the financial side of the company was lax when you were in charge of it.

Passing sentence, he said: “Bearing in mind the significant financial burden which you are going to bear I am going to suspend this period for two years. It means you will be better able to fund the financial order.”

He ordered him to repay the £38,700 in six months or face an 18-month jail term.

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin