DISHONEST BUS DRIVER.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 112, 13 May 1926, Page 9

DISHONEST BUS DRIVER.

STOLE FROM THE FARES.

AN AVERAGE OF £2 PER WEEK

~LEITiNG^rTE^OMPANY"I)OWN

LIGHTLY."

The extraordinary statement that he was "letting the company down lightly" by taking "only" £2 per week out of the passenger fares was made to Chief Detective Cummings by William Charles Warwick (28), a bus driver, who pleaded guilty at the Police Court this morning to two charges of stealing a total of £10 from the Royal Motor Bus Company.

Chief Detective Cummings said that . Warwick had been employed as a driver for the past fourteen months. The usual system was for drivers to collect | the fares and place the money in the till just in front of the driving wheel. It had been suspected that drivers had for some time been defrauding the com- | pany, and so a trap was set. After i having purchased a card of tickets, the Chief Detective said, in company with Detective Sergeant O'Brien he took a trip on accused's bus. Accused accepted the tickets, but at the conclusion of his run they were not recorded by him. Subsequently Warwick was interviewed when he at first stated that he only had £2 on him. However, a search revealed that he had about £20 in his pockets. He then admitted that for the past four months he had been taking, on an average, about £2 per week from the proceeds, and added that most of the other drivers did the same. In fact, he said, the drivers would often meet and discuss their takings. A special feature of the case was that Warwick had told the whole truth when first interviewed about the matter. He stated that his takings were much higher than any of the bus drivers. This statement was 1 inquired into and found to he correct. j Accused was a married man with four I children and paid £1 15/ per week as rent. He had never been in trouble before. After reminding the magisj trate that the matter was a serious one i for the company concerned, Mr. CumJ mings mentioned that the company em- | ployed about 60 men. In addition to j receiving a wage of £4 per week, accused j also sot 5 per cent commission. j Warwick at this stage stated that the ! £20 found on him was his own money. It was his commission.

Mr. Hunt: That's pretty hot. Not only do you accept the commission on top of your salary, but you go and steal money from the company at tbe rate of £2 per week.

Warwick: I only used to take 1/3 per day for my lunch. Chief Detective Cummings: No, sir, what he told mc was that he had been taking about £2 per week. He also said that other drivers were robbing the company, and that he was letting the company down lightly. When asked by the magistrate what he thought about the matter, the probation officer. Mr. W. J. Campbell, said that seeing that accused had four young children and had lost his position, probably he could be fined.

Mr. Hunt: Fined! He deserves six months' imprisonment. However, it is against my judgment not to send him to prison, but I will adopt Mr. Campbell's recommendation and impose a fine of £10. Accused was ordered to pay to the company the other £10 found on him.