Car dealer admits ‘clocking’ offences

A car dealer has been convicted after admitting 20 offences relating to advertising and selling misdescribed vehicles.

Mr Anjum Awais Alam, 61, of Suffolk Street, Rochdale, who traded under various names including Rochdale Motors, RM and RM Motors, pleaded guilty to all the charges at Bolton Crown Court following a lengthy investigation by trading standards officers from Rochdale Borough Council’s Public Protection Service.

He was sentenced at the court on 23 December to a nine-month jail sentence suspended for 12 months and ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid community service.

In June 2009 a consumer purchased a four-year-old Honda vehicle from Mr Alam which he had seen advertised for sale on the Autotrader website. The car had been described as having a mileage reading of 82,000 miles but, following a complaint, trading standards officers later confirmed the genuine mileage of the vehicle was actually over 186,000 miles.

The trading standards investigation that followed identified over 20 high mileage vehicles that had been bought by Mr Alam from the auctions between May 2008 and July 2009. Mr Alam then advertised the vehicles on the Autotrader website, sometimes on the same day, with mileage readings far lower. The mileage indications had been ‘clocked’, in other words the indication had been fraudulently reduced to falsely increase the trade value of the car. The trade value of one vehicle, an Audi A4, was increased by around £2400 simply by ‘clocking’ it.

The majority of the offences (19), which were committed after 26 May 2008, contravened the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, while the remaining offence committed prior to that date contravened the Trade Descriptions Act 1968.

The maximum sentence upon conviction is two years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.

Councillor Martin Burke, Cabinet Member for Internal and Environmental Services at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “This type of behaviour is totally unacceptable as it abuses the trust of customers who are already struggling in the current economic climate.

“The great majority of car dealers operate in a legitimate manner and they can rest assured that we will continue to take strong action against anyone who risks tarnishing the reputation of their trade in this way.”