A man pleaded guilty to knocking off nearly 200,000 miles from the clocks of seven different cars he sold to a garage in Kings Langley. John Wall (or Cash as he is also known), 43, of Langley Lane, Abbots Langley, pleaded guilty to seven offences under the Trade Descriptions Act at St Albans Crown Court last week.
The prosecution followed a Hertfordshire Trading Standards investigation. Susan Russ, owner of Kings Langley Motors, the garage which bought the cars and sold them on, also pleaded guilty to three offences under the legislation. She failed to check the mileage history of the cars, a variety of Fords including Fiesta, Mondeo and Focus models, and a Volkswagen Passat. Had she done so, it would have revealed the true mileages were 188,821 miles higher in total and therefore would have significantly reduced their value. Russ, 45, of Hempstead Road, Kings Langley, was fined £1,100 per offence and ordered to pay £5,000 costs and compensation of £2,950 to two of the consumers. She had already compensated one of them. Judge Breen said of Russ: "It was your responsibility as a motor dealer to put into place and execute systems to ensure that this does not happen - you failed in that duty. Not to impose a fine on you would reduce consumer confidence in dealing with the motor trade." However, he accepted that there was no dishonesty on her part and that she was of previous good character. Richard Smith, Executive Member for Community Safety, said: "Clocking cars is an extremely serious offence which is not only upsetting for the victims but damaging to the businesses of honest traders." At his sentencing at St Albans Crown Court, Wall was given a suspended prison sentence and fined £40,000. Judge Martin Griffith told Wall that he would not be sending him to prison, although he should not have had any complaints if he did.
A man pleaded guilty to knocking off nearly 200,000 miles from the clocks of seven different cars he sold to a garage in Kings Langley. John Wall (or Cash as he is also known), 43, of Langley Lane, Abbots Langley, pleaded guilty to seven offences under the Trade Descriptions Act at St Albans Crown Court last week.