Bus staff face action over `scam'

Dublin Bus says it expects disciplinary action to be taken against nine ticket inspectors following an investigation into allegedly falsified worksheets.

The company said the allegations did not represent a scam in the sense of, for example, bus fares being siphoned off by staff but, rather, "it appears people were not working when they were being paid to be working". Under disciplinary procedures, staff have a right to appeal the findings of a hearing, and three inspectors who were dismissed following the investigation have since availed of the appeals process.

A further two cases involving inspectors and worksheets were the subject of disciplinary hearings in recent days, but the findings have not been disclosed. If the appeals are unsuccessful, staff members involved may appeal to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

According to the company, inspectors are required to submit check sheets detailing their supervision of the ticketing system on individual buses. This involves extracting information from the ticketing machine on the bus, which, in turn, substantiates that the check was carried out. However, according to the company, some inspectors found a way to bypass this process, submitting worksheets which suggested that checks had been carried out when in fact they had not.