THE former managing director of a bus firm faces jail after he was convicted of making inflated claims about concessionary fare passenger numbers to a county council as part of a fiddle.

John David Hulme, known as David, had denied fraud and false accounting between July 2011 and December 2012 at Llanberis. The prosecution said the Padarn Bus scam had involved £495,857 at the point when the defendant, 55, of Glan Seiont, Caernarfon, was suspended.

The concessionary fare scheme, which enables pensioners and some other passengers to travel free of charge in Wales, is funded by the Welsh Government and operated by the 22 Welsh councils.

Hulme was found guilty by a Caernarfon Crown Court jury.

He and Padarn Bus operations director Darren Price, who has admitted fraud covering the period after Hulme was suspended, will be sentenced on Thursday.

The jury had heard how the company claimed £814,655 more than it was due from Gwynedd council for concessionary fare passengers.

“He (Hulme), as managing director, had a central role in relation to the finances of the company from the outset,” prosecuting barrister Matthew Dunford declared.

The company had a fleet of 43 buses and 79 employees.

Judge Merfyn Hughes QC bailed Hulme until he is sentenced later this week. But he told him: ”It became clearer and clearer and clearer during this trial you were the author and perpetrator of the fraud right up to December 2012 and you gave instructions to Darren Price so he was able to continue it.

“Although you are not charged with that, he wouldn’t have been able to do so if you hadn’t given those instructions. A custodial sentence is quite inevitable.”