Thursday 4 September 2014

Guilty but free - thanks to purple 'Get out of jail free' card

Adam Smith, also known as Paul Jones, would be in jail today were it not for the fact that he owns Velvet buses.

Adam Smith/Paul Jones's picture taken from Buses Excetera's website

As the Daily Echo reports, he first denied but later pleaded guilty to handling counterfeit banknotes.

A 16-month jail sentence was suspended for 2 years because people's jobs at Velvet depended on him and because Velvet owes £140,000 in tax, which it would be unlikely to be able to pay back had Smith/Jones been jailed. He will have to do 150 hours community service and pay £700 of genuine money in costs and surcharges.


Smith/Jones claimed that Velvet was in good hands, but admitted that he had been "stupid".

Velvet ceased trading on 16th July under the ownership of its founder, Phil Stockley, and would have entered receivership had Smith/Jones not bought it just days later, enabling its buses to resume operation.

16 comments:

  1. Thanks to Southampton Bus update now it has had the facts in printing the above-I note going to the Echo site and reading comments some have not been too kind which is understandable-I trust when people comment on this site, that no one will involve the Velvet drivers in their comments and just stick to the court case-PAC

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  2. Velvet owed £140k,and the former owner just walks away?

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  3. No, the former owner sold the company to a new owner, the new owner being fully aware of the debts and taking them on in full, and having proved that he has the means to pay them. No-one has walked away from anything - the debt still exists, and the company is still liable to pay it. Equally, the company rather than the former owner will benefit from the £100k + that was owed to the company from various sources (including the Department for Transport) at the time of takeover.

    Anon at 1531 has no idea of the full financial picture nor the full details of the takeover deal.

    But if it makes him/her feel any better, I have lost substantially more than £140k of my personal money as a result of my involvement with Velvet. I take that on the chin as I knew the risk I took in starting the business, but I object to Anon @ 1531 or anyone else seizing on one individual element of a large and complex financial picture and using it to make such an unfair and accusatory statement.

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  4. Well said Phil - I know the pain you're going through, best wishes from your "Winchester curry friend!!"

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  5. Owing HMR&C £140k is not quite the same as losing your own money is it?

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  6. Sad to see the ex Stagecoach Volvo's being sold - they were very reliable compared with the various darts which have been brought in recently.

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  7. Yeah, fair play to Phil for being so frank with his explanations, let's face it at the end of the day he could have told us all to sod off and mind our own business!
    Also congratulations to Phil for a brilliant "inside track" article in the latest BUSES magazine.....let's hope there's more to come

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    1. I would certainly agree with that - His views on independent's were very interesting - It was also very well written

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  8. Alas Smith and Jones, now there's a few classic TV memories.

    Don't remember a sketch about a bag of counterfeit notes and a nimbus though...

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  9. Or even a minibus.

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  10. I have to wonder how the Traffic Commissioners will react to this conviction. They are usually quite interested in an operator's financial situation.

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    1. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/303046/repute.pdf

      may be worth a read?

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  11. You mean that he's poorer without the £9600 funny money?

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  12. It seems well iffy that if he had not bought Velvet (with real money we hope) then he'd be doing time for Her Majesty! Maybe mr Smith/Jones saw Velvet as his Purple (no jail) Ticket a while back & bought the company for that very reason? Still, it's all speculation & he could have just been a really silly billy.

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  13. Gardbus 139 I note now to run additionally on Saturdays from October-PAC

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  14. I note that from a note on Xelabus twitter that the X4 does not serve Wildern Lane anymore-No information on their website to this fact I note-PAC

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