A brother and sister, believed to have netted around £27,000 through ticket fraud, have been jailed for 12 months and nine months respectively.

John Derakhshan, 26, of Lansdowne Road, Notting Hill was sentenced to 12 months after being found guilty of eight charges of theft, five of forgery and three of possession of criminal property. His sister Mehnoush Derakhshan, 46, of Larch Crescent, Hayes was sentenced to nine months after being found guilty of six charges each of theft and forgery. The pair were both sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on Tuesday 7 February 2006.

The court heard that the incidents had taken place between June and August 2004 when the pair worked for a newsagent in Hanger Lane. An investigation was launched after owners of the newsagents, Co-op, began to notice a considerable amount of voided and cancelled tickets at their Hanger Lane branch. It was then discovered that the pair had been selling bus passes to customers and then promptly cancelling them and pocketing the money.

Derek Cass, TfL's Head of Fraud, said: "TfL takes fraud of any kind very seriously. This was an unusual case and we are pleased that the sentence reflected the seriousness of the crime."

February 13, 2006