6:39 am, July 5, 2013
A DEALER in west Norfolk has been given a six-month suspended jail sentence after clocking the mileage on used cars and ordered to pay compensation to victims who bought the vehicles.
Christopher James Gray, 31, is said to have advertised the cars on eBay stating they had low mileage, when in fact they had done much higher.
The court heard that in one case, Gray advertised an Audi TT as having mileage of 108,000 miles when in fact it had done 290,000.
According to EPD 24, Catharine Girvan, prosecuting on behalf of Norfolk trading standard, said Gray traded over the internet, using various add-resses and names as well as friends’ eBay accounts, which made it harder for buyers to get redress if they were unhappy with the vehicle they purchased from him.
Because they cars had done higher mileage than stated, Girvan said customers also had to pay out for costly repairs. According to Girvan, the scam was uncovered after one seller noticed a car which has been sold to Gray, re-advertised at a much lower mileage and therefore, contacted Trading Standards, who then carried out an investigation.
Girvan told EPD 24 that the defendant’s father, Christopher Peter Gray, sells cars from a car Trade Centre in Clenchwarton, which was a legitimate business and so customers dealing with Gray mistakenly thought he was working with his father’s business.
Gray has admitted four counts of fraud and one offence of contravening the trading standards regulations by giving a false description on a Saab, claiming it had just one pervious owner, when it actually had several.
EDP 24 says recorder, James Wood imposed a six-month jail sentence suspended year and ordered Gray to pay compensation to two of his unhappy customers. One man, who paid £2,295 for a Ford Focus, which he bought under the impression it had only done 80,000, when it fact it had done more than 150,000 was ordered to be given £600 in compensation.
