2:39 pm, January 17, 2020
THE director of a Cambridgeshire dealership has been handed a suspended prison sentence for clocking cars.
Shaffarat Parvez, who is the sole director of Carpoint of Peterborough, was caught out when people who bought a Vauxhall Astra and Corsa from him applied online for vehicle history documents and found the mileages were higher than advertised, reported the Peterborough Telegraph.
The 31-year-old, of Cromwell Road, Peterborough, was sentenced at the city’s magistrates’ court on Wednesday (Jan 15) following a prosecution by Peterborough and Cambridgeshire Trading Standards.
He pleaded guilty last month to three fraud charges and one of contravening professional diligence. As well as an 18-week sentence that was suspended for two years, Parvez was also ordered to pay costs of £6,529 plus a £115 victim surcharge.
In addition, he was given a three-year criminal behaviour order, with conditions aimed at preventing future offending.
Two of the fraud charges related to the Corsa and Astra, which had both been advertised for sale with a lower mileage.
The third fraud charge related to a false stamped service record Parvez supplied with one of the cars.
One buyer who had requested a service history from the vehicle’s previous keeper found that the mileage had been reduced by more than 79,000 miles, and reported the matter to trading standards.
A subsequent investigation found that Parvez had bought two former police cars from the same auction where they had guaranteed mileages of around 100,000.
After buying them, Parvez had them MOT tested but both mileages were recorded to be around 18,000 miles.
Parvez then misled consumers by advertising them as low-mileage cars, didn’t tell customers they were ex-police fleet vehicles, and supplied a fake stamped service history record to support the altered mileage for one of the cars.
The contravening professional diligence charge related to a number of complaints, where people who had bought used cars from Parvez found they were faulty and, in some cases, unroadworthy.
Any attempts to obtain refunds were refused, though, and trading standards officers found enough evidence to show that he was persistently restricting consumer rights.
The company itself, which trades in Whitehead Drove but whose registered office address is in Luton, admitted the charges too and was given a £4,000 fine as well as being told to pay costs of £10,000 plus a victim surcharge of £115.
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