Newsagent stole £6,000 from Oyster card customers in 'mean and greedy' fraud

 
Phased out: Oyster Cards
Barry Phillips/Evening Srandard
5 November 2013
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A newsagent stole £6,000 from London commuters’ Oyster cards in a “mean and greedy fraud”.

Mariathas Thevathas, 54, docked a few pounds from thousands of transactions during an eighteen-month spell, leaving customers with less money on their Oyster cards than they had paid for.

The Sri Lankan asylum seeker, of Catford, was sentenced yesterday to ten months imprisonment, suspended for two years, and ordered to perform 150 hours community service.

Croydon Crown Court Judge Nicholas Ainley told first-time offender Thevathas: “This was a mean and greedy fraud.”

Thevathas pleaded guilty to one count of fraud against Transport for London between December 31, 2010 and June 26, last year. TFL could only trace six of the defrauded customers, as most used unregistered cards.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in