Clocker wiped 119,000 miles off Audi

CLOCKING a car has cost a Glodwick man almost £6,000.

Anees Zameer, of Allama Iqbal Road, advertised an Audi A5 for sale on the website Gumtree with 108,000 miles on the odometer.

A customer bought the vehicle, but when the MOT certificate from the previous year was checked, the mileage was recorded at more than 227,000 miles.

Oldham Council prosecuted Zameer, who pleaded guilty at Tameside Magistrates' Court.

The 21-year-old was ordered to pay a fine of £450, plus £2,500 in compensation to the consumer and £2,845 in costs.

Zameer advertised the car for sale in March last year. A buyer from Northern Ireland saw the trade advertisement on the website and arranged to fly over to Manchester.

Zameer collected the buyer from the airport and took him to his home address.

But when the purchaser realised they had been conned they contacted Trading Standards in Northern Ireland who reported the matter to Oldham Trading Standards and an investigation was launched.

On August 3, Zameer was convicted of an offence under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulation 2008 for misleading the purchaser by giving false information in relation to the vehicle mileage.

He had pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing and opted for a trial, meaning the witness had to come over from Ireland. But Zameer changed his plea to guilty before the trial started.

Councillor Fida Hussain, Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, said: "Zameer purposely went out of his way to deceive an honest member of the public and to commit fraud.

"He presented himself as an honest seller; something we've proved to be false. I hope this result forces him, and others who may contemplate this type of conduct, to think twice."

Clocking is the illegal practice of winding back the odometer on a high-mileage car to increase its apparent value and asking price. Every 1,000 miles removed increases the value substantially.

Buyers are advised to use the DVLA's free online vehicle information checker (https://www.gov.uk/get-vehicle-information-from-dvla) to make sure what a seller tells you matches the DVLA's records. Vehicles need regular MOT for road safety. You should check that MOT tests have been done regularly. Check this at https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history.