Ashington Bus Company Executive Jailed for £100,000 Fraud
ASHINGTON, NORTHUMBERLAND – A former managing director of Arriva Northumbria has received a two-year suspended sentence for defrauding the bus company of approximately £100,000 through misuse of a corporate credit card. Michael Forster, 60, of Rothbury Drive, Ashington, pleaded guilty to fraud at Crown court and was ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid work.
forster, who had been with Arriva as 1993 and appointed managing director in 2014 on a six-figure salary, was entrusted with a company credit card for legitimate business expenses such as travel, hotels, and hospitality. Though, between 2017 and 2022, he used the card for “personal expenditure,” including rental properties, music records, groceries, holidays, and garden furnishings, prosecutor Rachel Kelly told the court.
the fraud was discovered in December 2022,leading to Forster’s dismissal. while the court heard he has as secured another senior management position, his assets have been frozen following a civil court judgement from Arriva demanding full repayment of the stolen funds.
In mitigation, Jane Foley argued a “culture of tolerance if not endorsement” existed within the company, allowing executives to use company cards for personal use when departments performed well financially. “It did become an implied perk of the role rather than a deliberate act of deceit,” Ms. foley stated, adding that Forster’s purchases were never concealed and receipts were not requested, describing it as an “institutional blind spot.” She further explained Forster “drifted into a pattern of behaviour that wrongly had come to be seen as acceptable among his peers.”
Recorder Thomas Moran noted that junior team members felt unable to report the fraud due to Forster’s seniority. Probation officers also reported a ”culture of spending on corporate credit cards” and were “surprising” there was no audit process in place. However, the judge emphasized, “Forster should have been trusted not to steal from the company, whether it was easy or not.”
An Arriva spokesperson stated the fraud was identified through the company’s “robust systems and controls” and that efforts to recover the money are ongoing. “As a responsible employer, we expect the highest standards of business conduct and do not tolerate any abuse of our policies,” the spokesperson added.
