A HIGH-flying banker’s career was in ruins last night after he admitted
forging an £8,000 railway season ticket.
Simon King, 47, bought a “gold card” to commute to his job in the City of
London.
But he returned the pass to claim the money back — then travelled for two
years using a copy he made after changing the “valid to” date.
Westminster magistrates heard yesterday he was caught when a ticket checker
told him to put it through the automatic barrier instead of waving it.
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King, of Hassocks, West Sussex, admitted false representation. He was given
100 hours’ community service and fined £240.
The court was told he had spent 25 years in finance. But he quit his job with
Citigroup when the con was rumbled and was now claiming benefits with no
hope of returning to the City.
Prosecutor Malachy Pakenham said King was hard up and needed a loan from
bosses to pay the initial cost of the Southern Railways gold card.
The ticket allows travel across the region for the holder and the purchase of
cheap tickets for other adults and children.
Last year investment executive Jonathan Burrows, 45, was forced to pay back
£43,000 and banned from working in finance after avoiding a daily £21.50
fare from Stonegate, Essex, to London.
– Since publishing the above article, solicitors representing Jonathan
Burrows have asked us to say that although £43,000 was paid to Southeastern
trains to settle the matter out of court, this sum does not reflect the
value of the unpaid fares alone, which was substantially less than the
settlement sum.