9:56 am, August 26, 2014
A CAR salesman feigned ownership of a Nissan Navara pick-up in a bid to dig himself out of financial difficulties, a court was told.
The salesman was supposedly selling the car privately on behalf of a customer of the dealership where he worked – but was doing so without the knowledge of his bosses.
He changed the name on the vehicle’s logbook and MoT certificate to his own and obtained £5,560 from a car loan firm in the process. He also applied to the DVLA to become the vehicle’s registered keeper.
The salesman, James Croft, of Long Eaton, Derby, admitted two counts of fraud by false representation and was given a six-month jail sentence suspended for two years, reported the Derby Telegraph.
Derby Crown Court heard that the customer had returned the Navara to the dealership where he had been sold the car by Croft – NK Motors in Orient Way. The customer was apparently unhappy with the vehicle.
Croft offered to sell the car privately as he felt NK Motors ‘would be unable to sell it for a fair price,’ the Telegraph reported.
The unnamed customer dropped the car at Croft’s home – but then did not hear from him, eventually managing to retrieve the car from a relative of Croft as Croft himself had left the dealership in the meantime.
Defending solicitor Roger Wilson said Croft’s finances were ‘extremely stretched’.
Sanj Kumar, NK Motors’ dealer principal, said the company was unaware of the agreement Croft had reached with the customer and that entering into such an arrangement was a sackable offence.
Croft will be supervised by the probation service for 12 months, must carry out unpaid work and pay £2,000 compensation to the finance company, said the Telegraph.
