Car dealers plead guilty to clocking cars

Two car dealers have been successfully prosecuted by Oldham Council for ‘clocking’ cars and then advertising them for sale.

Trading Standards launched an investigation after being contacted by a concerned member of the public.

It emerged that the mileage had been altered on seven cars advertised by G3 Motorhouse LTD of George Street in Failsworth.

All had been reduced after being purchased through vehicle auctions.

One vehicle’s mileage had been reduced by more than 35,000 miles.

To try to avoid detection the mileages for each vehicle had been carefully reduced to avoid being lower than previous MOT test readings.

However, the vehicle auction records showed the true distance that the cars had travelled since their last tests.

Arfan Younis, aged 35, of Leeds Old Road in Bradford, pleaded guilty to six offences under the Fraud Act 2006 and one offence under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

He was sentenced to 240 hours community service and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £90 plus £2,000 costs.

Tariq Younis, 45, of the same address, pleaded guilty to six offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and was ordered to pay a £539 fine, a victim surcharge of £53 and £2,457 costs.

Councillor Barbara Brownridge, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Culture, said: “These two company directors purposely went out of their way to try and deceive members of the public.

“They presented themselves as honest car sellers but thanks to the work of our Trading Standards officers we’ve been able to prove otherwise.

“Hopefully this will make them operate within the law in future.

“This prosecution also shows that despite the pandemic we are continuing with our everyday duties and working to protect the public.”

Further advice on your consumer rights can be found by calling the freephone number 0808 223 1133 or visiting:  https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/

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