Disgraced Telford truck boss Stephen Holding told to pay £150,000 over £900,000 mileage fiddle
A Telford businessman who made almost £1 million by helping to fiddle drivers’ mileage rates has been ordered to repay about £150,000.
Stephen Holding, founder of SP Holding, was jailed for eight months at Shrewsbury Crown Court two years ago for aiding and abetting drivers in falsifying records of the hours they work and rest periods.
Holding was hauled back to court yesterday to be told how much he should repay under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Shrewsbury Crown Court was told Holding had earned £900,000 from the crime. But, after taking into account his assets, he will only have to pay £151,000 back.
He has three months to pay the money or face a further two years in prison.
SP Holding, which was based in Telford, fell into administration in May 2016, months after Holding was jailed.
He had won multi-million pound contracts with Severn Trent Water and a firm that supplied VIP boxes for major sporting events such as the British Grand Prix.
But he was jailed for putting the safety of his drivers, and other road users, at risk by forcing them to work long hours.
Holding’s ex-wife Tracey Smith also pleaded guilty to offences as the company secretary in charge of paying drivers. She was spared jail, but in October last year a judge ordered her to pay £53,500 in a proceeds of crime hearing.
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Holding, of Moreton Coppice, in Telford, had pleaded guilty to a series of offences. He owned SP Holding Tractor Hire Limited, SP Holding Service Limited, SP Holding Workshop Limited, SP Holding Limited and SP Holding Group Limited.
The group, which operated from Upper Coalmoor, Horsehay, Telford, was set up in 1985 by Stephen Holding and over the years developed into a major utility and industrial support business.
He had also tendered guilty pleas on behalf of the company on two charges relating to falsified drivers’ records.
SP Holding had won multi-million pound contracts with Severn Trent Water and a firm which supplied VIP boxes for high-profile sporting events such as the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and the Isle of Man TT race.
