Express Motors drivers were urged to issue concessionary bus tickets "to keep their jobs" a jury was told today.
The drivers were asked to pull into bus stops even if no passengers were waiting, open the doors and manually issue concessionary tickets.
Karl Smith, a former driver at the company, was giving evidence at the trial of Express Motors owner Eric Wyn Jones and his three sons, Ian Wyn Jones, Keith Jones and Kevin Wyn Jones, at Caernarfon Crown Court.
The four deny conspiring to commit fraud by false representation.
Mr Smith said he joined the company in late 2002 and claims he was told by Eric Jones to press the concessionary ticket button more often.
"All the drivers were told to do this and we were told this was so we can keep our jobs," Mr Smith added.
When the concessionary bus scheme started in Wales the tickets were manually issued and drivers had to press a button for the machine to print a ticket.
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Later smartcard machines were introduced and passengers were then required to swipe their card on a machine which would record the journey and issue a ticket.
Asked if this had happened only once by prosecutor Matthew Dunford Mr Smith said drivers were often reminded to issue more concessionary tickets.
The drivers were unrewarded for this he added.
After a row with management Mr Smith said he refused to press the ticket button more often.
He said he had reported the practice to an official at Gwynedd Council in 2004 but nothing was done.
Eric Jones' barrister, John Philpotts said his client denied the practice took place at the company.
"It did," said Mr Smith.
The jury heard Mr Smith left the firm in 2014 after a row with Ian Jones.
"I hadn't been paid on time and some direct debits had been refused and I'd been charged by the bank. I took £9.90 from the takings as I believed it was rightfully mine," he said.
Cross examined Mr Smith agreed with Andrew Jebb, defending Ian Jones, that the company had threatened to report the matter to the police.
"I wish he had. We would have sorted it all out," he said.
Earlier Mr Smith said his basic wages were paid into his bank account but overtime payments were paid in cash.
Some drivers at the Penygroes-based company were only paid for three days a week but worked other shifts "off the books" for cash, the court heard.
Mr Philpotts said it was false to say he had been paid in cash. "No, it's not false," replied Mr Smith.
Mr Smith said he was aware of an investigation in 2014 into the Llanberis-based Padarn Bus company.
Asked if he had spoken to any of the Jones family about it Mr Smith said: "I told Kevin you'll be worried now, you've been at it for years. He said they've got to prove it," he said.
His wife Angela was also a driver at Express Motors until 2009.
She told the jury Eric Jones had shown her two routes, one on Anglesey and another to Dolgellau and had told her to pull into bus stops even if no passengers were waiting.
"We were to open the door because that was linked to the machine and issue (concessionary) tickets," she said.
Mrs Smith said she didn't know what to do as the situation had not arisen at her previous bus company in Oxfordshire and had refused to do so.
Eric Jones of Gerallt, Bontnewydd, near Caernarfon, and his sons, Ian Wyn, 53, of Carmel Road, Penygroes; Keith, 51, of Caer Berllan, Llanddaniel, Anglesey and Kevin Wyn, 54, of Llwyn Beuno, Bontnewydd also deny putting more than half a million pounds of cash through their own bank accounts without paying tax.
The trial continues.
