Two men have been given prison sentences for offering a bribe to a council worker.
Saeed Shakir, 46, was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment after pleading guilty in November 2015 to offering a bribe to a contracts manager from Surrey County Council.
The second man — Muzaffar Hussain, 46 — was imprisoned for three years after being found guilty of the same offence on 12 February 2016.
Both men, who were charged under the Bribery Act 2010, were sentenced at Croydon Crown Court.
Hussain was a director of a taxi company which had a million pound contract with the council to provide home to school transport.
Due to complaints about the quality of the service, he was about to lose the contract.
In December 2013, Shakir arranged a meeting with the council officer in question and offered him £500 along with a promise of ongoing payments of a four figure sum, to be negotiated with Hussain.
The officer recorded the offer on his phone and immediately reported it to his line manager and group manager, who then contacted the police.
Surrey County Council's travel and transport group manager Paul Millin said: ‘We have a zero tolerance approach to anyone attempting to bribe our staff so as soon as I was made aware of what happened I reported it to Surrey Police.
‘We have been working closely with them since the incident and are pleased with the outcome of the case.’
‘We hope this will send out a strong message that this behaviour will not be tolerated and will be dealt with severely,’ he added.