Stagecoach burgled, staff sacked in ticket trouble

Auckland bus operator Stagecoach has lost hundreds of travel passes potentially worth more than $10,000 in a burglary and has also sacked staff amid suspicions of ticketing fraud.

The company has posted notices urging its drivers to guard against passengers trying to use any of 491 four-day passes taken in a break-in of its customer services department at the Glenfield bus depot.

These are understood to be what the company issues to passengers as temporary tickets while problems with month-long passes are ironed out, and can be used for up to $21 of travel.

But the Auckland Tramways Union says the company has alerted it to a possible fraud involving a far larger sum - possibly in six figures - in defence of dismissals of two union members.

Stagecoach operations director Warren Fowler would not say if anything else was taken in the burglary, but said he called the police as soon as it was discovered last Monday.

A Takapuna police spokeswoman said detectives wanted to hear from anyone who may have seen a suspicious vehicle leaving the Diana Drive depot the night before.

Mr Fowler confirmed that the break-in was just days after the two staff were dismissed from other company sites as a result of an internal investigation he said may also be referred to the police.

He would not say why the pair were dismissed , but the Herald understands the investigation began after passengers were caught trying to use bus passes which should not have been in circulation.

These were traced back to electronic ticketing machines used for training purposes.

Both staff held training roles with the company, one as a driving instructor and the other with ticket retailers.

Mr Fowler said the company did not believe there was any link between the burglary and the investigation or the dismissals.

He denied a claim by a private investigator engaged by the union that Stagecoach stalled a request by one of the sacked pair for the matter to be put in police hands on the basis that it first wanted to check if many more staff may have been involved.

"I suggest someone has seriously got something way out of context on that," Mr Fowler said. "As far as we can see, we have taken care of the problem and that's it, completed."

But union president Gary Froggatt, at first reluctant to discuss the case, said the company told him before the dismissals that more than 50 staff may be involved in defrauding the bus operator of hundreds of thousands of dollars since 1994.

He said the company had indicated it may even be a matter for the Serious Fraud Office.