Sue Reynolds, former director of Reynolds Diplomat, has left the coach industry and stepped down from her role as Director of the London Tourist Coach Operator’s Association (LTCOA).
Sue was convicted of knowingly employing a driver who was barred from working with children to drive a school bus. The driver, Dennis Passmore, had been previously employed by the operator in 2008, but returned to work in 2010 and continued driving for the company until 2015.
The driver had been convicted of possessing indecent images of children, though Sue had claimed that she thought his conviction was instead for the selling of pornographic videos. She was fined £7,500 on Thursday, August 11.
In mitigation, Sue’s legal representative, Guy Gozem QC, told the Old Bailey: “Between 1998 and 2015, Sue and her husband built Reynolds Deplomat into a substantial business with something like 25 coaches. That was as a consequence of a lot of hard work.
“They acted as foster carers for children with difficulties.
“She has, of course, lost all of that. The business was actually sold for £80,000 which was a pretty substantial undervaluation.
“The defendant will never, ever be able to work in this area again.”
Sue Reynolds resigned as director of the LTCOA when she was convicted in July, not wishing for the publicity of the case to detract from the work which the organisation did for the coach industry. Reynolds Diplomat was sold to Mullanys Coaches of Watford on January 11, 2016.
