Car hire scam cost Arval forty thousand pounds

Daniel Welch was said to be a trusted employee of Windmill Hill-based Arval, the contract car hire provider, but he recently pleaded guilty to charges of unauthorized activity that cost the company more than £40,000.

Early this week, the former employee appeared at Swindon Crown Court, where he received a 12-month jail sentence that was suspended for two years, on nine counts of unauthorized computer use and deception.

The 23-year-old Welch pleaded guilty to all charges and asked that 81 other deception counts be taken into consideration.

The court heard that the former Arval employee, a resident of Birkdale Close, in Swindon, hired cars for Arval clients through the car rental company Northgate.

What he did was to hire vehicles for himself and his friends, using the names and details of actual Arval customers, and continued doing so after he had been suspended from his job, hacking into Arval’s database.

Welch treated himself and friends to numerous Mercedes, Range Rovers and Saabs for a year.

The respected scouting leader even hired two minibuses to transport young scouts on trips from Chippenham. The vehicles would not have been covered by valid insurance.

Customers of the hire firm were left bemused as the charges piled up.

Arval had to reimburse its clients for a total of £40,257.99.

www.arval.co.uk