9:30 am, June 10, 2023
Trading Standards officers hope the near-five-year jail term handed down to a used car dealer after he was caught clocking cars will act as a deterrent to others.
Car Dealer Magazine was in Portsmouth Crown Court yesterday (June 9) to hear the sentencing of Ashley Wilson who was jailed for 45 months for reducing the mileages of used cars he sold.
The 27-year-old, from Fareham, Hampshire, sold the used cars to other car dealers across the country via several online dealer trading platforms.
He reduced the mileages on 32 vehicles to the tune of 2.9m miles and fraudulently sold 33 cars on the platforms with falsified service histories.
Wilson paid a total of £450,000 for the vehicles and made a profit of £140,000. He admitted a charge of fraud by false representation and a charge of converting criminal property.
Judge Richard Shepherd imprisoned Wilson for 45 months and a further 12 months for a previous suspended sentence.
The used car salesman wiped away tears as the punishment was dished out and was told he will serve half of his sentence before being released on licence.
Ashley Wilson was jailed for nearly five years after he wiped millions of miles from 33 used cars. Image: Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary/PA
The prosecution came about after a joint investigation by Hampshire and National Trading Standards officers.
The national team provided additional investigative and operational support.
Trish Burls, from National Trading Standards, said: ‘The practice of altering vehicle mileages is both illegal and could endanger lives.
‘The sentencing in this case should act as a deterrent for those engaged in this type of activity and finalises another successful collaboration between the Tri-Region Investigation Team and Hampshire County Council’s Trading Standards officers.
‘Our joint approach ensured a prompt investigation, highlighting the value of partnership working that allowed serious fraud directed at consumers across the country to be tackled.’
Councillor Russell Oppenheimer, Hampshire County Council’s cabinet member with responsibility for Trading Standards, added: ‘This is a great result for consumers who have been protected by Hampshire Trading Standards from the illegal activities of an individual who contrived to sell on second-hand cars dishonestly through legitimate traders.
‘Clocking is a serious criminal activity that can affect anyone who buys a used vehicle in the second-hand market, and result in people paying more than the market price as well as risking further unexpected repair costs because the car has more miles on the clock than advertised.
‘Our advice is to always make a few precautionary checks, no matter who you buy a used car from, to reduce the chances of buying a vehicle that’s being sold illegally, or under false pretences.’
The offences Wilson committed dated from February 2021 to July 2022 and began while the defendant was also on bail for separate fraud charges in relation to a previous company, YouDrive.
On that occasion, the same judge handed him a 21-month suspended sentence after hearing Wilson had set his sights on becoming a ‘law-abiding member of society’.
However, it now transpires that he had already been involved in the latest fraud campaign at the time of that hearing.
Sentencing Wilson in court yesterday, the judge said Wilson was ‘thoroughly dishonest’.
He said: ‘Across the vehicles that you caused to be clocked, the difference in mileage between their true miles and the false mileage was some 2.9m miles.
‘Put another way – the moon and back on six occasions. That is the scale of your fraud.
‘By the time this clocking fraud began, you had already pleaded guilty to fraud, you had already been on bail for that [previous] fraud and after I sentenced you to your suspended sentence you continued with that clocking fraud for another 10 months.
‘In those 10 months you were thoroughly dishonest whilst also under the umbrella of a suspended sentence.’
A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing is now set to take place in a bid to recoup any money made illegally.
Trading Standards said that anyone who suspects they have been the victim of a scam can report it to the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133.
