6:44 am, May 8, 2014
A CHINGFORD car dealer has been fined £4,800 for using his home and the surrounding roads to sell cars.
Graham Sheekey, 52, of Hortus Road in Chingford and owner of Connaught Motor Company had been using Auto Trader to advertise cars before selling them from the roads around his house, despite not having a street trading license.
East London and West Essex Guardian reported that Waltham Forest Council began investigating Sheekey in June 2013 when residents complained of the nuisance the cars were causing. They found of the cars listed for sale from Connaught Motor Company online, 12 were parked in the streets surrounding Sheekey’s house.
The council wrote to Sheekey but he failed to respond. A month later they compared the 20 cars online again and found 14 were parked in Hortus Road.
On August 29th, Sheekey admitted to officers from the Trading Standards Team to offering some of the cars for sale.
After this, he was sent information on the legislation necessary for street trading but he failed to stop trading illegally and 17 cars were found advertised in October 2013.
Sheekey appeared at Thames Magistrates Court on April 25th and was found guilty on 12 counts of unlicensed street dealing.
For each of the 12 offences he was ordered to pay a fine of £400, the total sum of £4,800 plus £1,160 in legal costs.
This does not prevent Connaught Motor Company from operating but Sheekey must apply for a license to sell from a forecourt or storage ground if he wants to trade cars.
