Great Western Coffee Shop

A Newport-born man obsessed with Britain^s rail network, defrauded train companies of at least £20,000.

Peter Young, 30, who lives in Glasgow, travelled first-class for free for up to three years, writing at least £10,000-worth of bogus company cheques to ride the network in luxury.

He enjoyed complimentary refreshments along with the sights on the 470-mile journey from his adopted home city to Penzance in Cornwall.

Young, who has Asperger^s Syndrome, a form of autism, has a previous conviction for a similar spree in 2009. He admitted at Blackfriars Crown Court to conning another ^10,000 from train operators, deceiving firms including First Scotrail, First Great Western and Arriva Trains Wales.

He mounted the fraud using his wealth of knowledge about the rail system acquired over the years of his obsession.

Young, currently jobless and on benefits, had registered a string of businesses and opened corporate bank accounts, using the cheques to buy multiple-travel passes for up to £5,000.

He appeared in the Argus in 2009, when he launched UK Express Coaches. Based in Edinburgh, the company was to provide routes from Newport to the Scottish capital, and to Manchester, Manchester Airport and Birmingham International Airport. Young said he wanted ^to prove that Asperger^s Syndrome sufferers can still achieve.^

The previous year he had launched another firm, Interconnection Coaches, to provide an Edinburgh-Manchester airport link.

In a Scottish newspaper in 2008 he was described as having an obession with the UK^s road network, and dubbed himself ^the human sat nav.^

Young, now of Rouken Glen Road, Glasgow, faces a sentencing hearing on April 2. He admitted eight counts of fraud by false representation between 2009 and 2011, denying a further eight similar charges which are expected to be allowed to lie on file at the next hearing.