Fraudster Terence Brown caught applying for York taxi permit from same council that paid his benefits
A BENEFIT cheat’s number was up when he applied for a taxi licence from the same council that was paying him benefit on the grounds he was unemployed, York Crown Court heard. Terence Brown, 50, swindled £22,827.56 over 19 months from the public purse by claiming he had no income and needed to support himself and his four children, said James Bourne-Arton, prosecuting.
While the Government and City of York Council were authorising payments of income support and council tax benefit, Brown was earning between £450 and £600 a week working on a self-employed basis for Streamline Taxis in York. But to get the work, he needed a licence from the council. Its licensing department tipped off the benefit department to expose Brown’s deceit.
Chris Smith, for Brown, said he had found himself unemployed when he suffered a “catastrophic” back injury in 1997 that led to him having five discs being removed. Not wanting to stay idle at home, he had started a new career as a taxi driver, but had since given it up because his back hurt too much.
Judge Jim Spencer said: “If you had stayed off work and made no attempt to return to work, the benefits would have continued to be paid.” He gave Brown a community order with 12 months’ supervision. Brown, who at an earlier hearing gave an address in Precentors Court, central York, pleaded guilty to two offences of benefit fraud.
Mr Bourne-Arton said that Brown initially claimed income support legitimately from March 2005. But from October 12, 2005, he was working full-time as a taxi driver, having applied for his taxi licence on October 26, 2004. He continued to get income support until the two council departments compared files and alerted the Department of Work and Pensions in 2007. Mr Smith said Brown used the money to pay for household expenses, not luxuries. He had since lost his house through repossession and now lived in rented accommodation. He was so ashamed by his actions he had been unable to tell his children, who were all now aged 16 or older. He had repaid some of the money.
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