Customs officers target councillor's home

From the archive, first published Friday 23rd Mar 2007.

Investigators probing a multi-million-pound theft and misuse of illegal fuel operation have swooped on a Bradford councillor's home.

Revenue and Customs officers removed documents relating to lorry movements and driver working hours from Councillor Mike Ellis's home in Hillhouse Lane, Oxenhope.

Coun Ellis (Con, Bingley Rural) works as an independent dangerous-goods safety adviser for a number of companies in the Bradford area.

The investigators spent hours collecting and scrutinising documents at his home during the early-morning raid.

All the documents were on his premises as part of his work to ensure drivers are complying with the regulations.

Coun Ellis said: "It was a complete surprise - they just arrived at my door at about 7am - there were about five of them.

"They told me they were raiding about 40 other premises. They spent between three and four hours.

"I'd actually just gone outside to start my daughter's car - it was a cold morning and frozen. If they had arrived five minutes later I would have gone."

He said the tachograph documents, which recorded a driver's movements, would be useful to investigators because they would indicate where a vehicle was at a given time and place.

"I understand from them - they didn't tell me everything - that there have been all sorts of shenanigans and they were gathering evidence," he added.

A Revenue and Customs spokesman said one person in Bradford had been arrested in connection with the investigation. The total number of arrests was into double figures.

It was a UK-wide operation involving the theft and misuse of illegal fuel, including red diesel, amounting to millions of pounds.

The people arrested had been bailed, pending further inquiries and so far there had been no charges, she said.

She said: "It is a massive operation with assistance from some police forces, but not West Yorkshire. We have been working on it quite a while - it's a complicated case."

Searches and tests were ongoing and there were potentially more arrests to come, she added.