A car trader has been fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £1,500 compensation after a West Sussex customer reported them to West Sussex Trading Standards service.
Michael Gilliam and the company he works for, Direct Car Sales (Southern) Ltd, pleaded guilty at Worthing Magistrates Court after selling a car with its mileage turned back – an offence known as ‘clocking’.
The company was sentenced to a fine of £3,000 and ordered to pay £500 costs, £170 victim surcharge and £1,500 compensation.
Gilliam was sentenced to a fine of £692 and made to pay £500 posts and a £69 victim surcharge at court on Friday 19 January.
The car had an advertised mileage of 116,000 when the customer bought it in July 2016 for £5,800.
It was only after noticing various mechanical problems that the customer checked the vehicle’s history and discovered that the car had been ‘clocked’.
Investigations by the Trading Standards team identified that in 2012 the car’s mileage had indeed been turned back.
The true estimated mileage of the vehicle is thought to be more than 186,000 miles.
Debbie Kennard, Cabinet Member for Safer, Stronger Communities, said: “This is a very positive outcome both for the customer who will be compensated and for our Trading Standards team.
“They work incredibly hard to bring such cases to court so that justice can be served.”
Trading Standards team manager Richard Sargeant said: “The careless actions of this business and individual were totally avoidable. This is a lot of money for the company to pay as a result of its actions and I hope this successful prosecution acts as a deterrent to anyone else who thinks they can get away with duping unsuspecting customers in our communities.
“We always encourage consumers to use traders from the Buy with Confidence scheme, the members of which are audited and approved by Trading Standards.”
Anyone who thinks they have been a victim of an unfair trading practice can contact Trading Standards via Citizens Advice on 03454 04 05 06 or online via www.westsussex.gov.uk/tsreport