Jailed, transport boss who tried to steer firm out of trouble with £175k tax fraud
A FLAMBOYANT transport boss who tried to prop up his failing business by conning the taxman out of almost £175,000 was jailed for 32 months yesterday.
Stuart Newing-Davis forced staff to falsify VAT returns for more than a year and eventually defrauded HM Revenue and Customs out of £174,179.
Jailing Newing-Davis, Sheriff William Wood said: ‘This is a course of conduct that has to be treated very seriously as it is a substantial fraud upon the taxpayer.
‘The author of any problems arising from this particular process is you. You instructed staff members to falsify returns due to be made to HMRC. The amount involved is significant.’
Newing-Davis had vowed to take on Stagecoach when he set up his first bus company, but prior to being jailed he had been reduced to working part-time as a bus driver and was living in a YMCA hostel.
The 48-year-old admitted five charges of tax evasion.
Perth Sheriff Court was told that Newing-Davis, formerly of Bankfoot, Perthshire, had deliberately falsified accounts to avoid substantial VAT payments and then tried to blame his bookkeeper.
But an audit established that he had underpaid the taxman the vast sum between March 2010 and June 2011.
Newing-Davis had been running several businesses including Trainpeople.co.uk Ltd, which operated recruitment on behalf of national transport companies.
One of his firms provided staff for ScotRail franchise operator Abellio.
Counsel Kevin McCallum, defending, said: ‘Money was moving from one company to another and back again. There was a situation of robbing Peter to pay Paul.’
But Sheriff William Wood pointed out: ‘Not quite, because Peter stays robbed.’
Mr McCallum told the court: ‘Money was being withheld to keep the companies going. They were wound up on behalf of HMRC. There was wilful nonpayment. Basically the business collapsed. He is now working as a bus driver in London, stays in a YMCA hostel and has little money.’
Fiscal depute John Malpass said: ‘He was unable to explain discrepancies when they were shown to him.
‘He claimed they were the fault of the bookkeeper or the accountants, suggesting they were responsible for submitting fraudulent returns. They all refuted that suggestion.’
Newing-Davis formerly ran Bankfoot Buses, which was ordered off the road by regulators for trying to imitate Stagecoach services by using similar livery and running free routes ahead of their rival.