10:15 am, May 11, 2015
A HAMPSHIRE car salesman duped customers into buying vehicles with fake service histories, a court was told.
Gordon Angelo, who runs Part X Motors Ltd in Gosport, advertised various cars online, including photographs of service books that contained more stamps than they should have done, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.
Edward Elton, prosecuting, told the court that one of the cars, a Ford Fusion, had not been serviced at all before it was sold to Part X, but stamps had been added for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012.
The Portsmouth News reported that the customer who bought the car from Angelo would not have done so at the price had she known its history had been falsified.
A second car, a Renault Scenic, was sold to an unwitting buyer with three fake service stamps, The News added.
And in another instance, a customer whose car developed faults was told by a colleague of Angelo’s: ‘What do you know about cars anyway? Do you work in the motor trade? No? Then shut up.’
Angelo’s business methods were brought to light after an investigation by Hampshire Trading Standards.
The 45-year-old, of Pettycot Crescent, Gosport, admitted two charges of making a false representation in relation to four cars.
And The News reported he pleaded guilty to using an instrument, six vehicle service histories, which he knew to be false, but with the aim of passing them off as genuine.
Sentencing was adjourned for the probation service to prepare a pre-sentence report.
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