A car dealer in Northamptonshire has been given a suspended sentence after he removed 750,000 miles from vehicles he was selling.
Gershorn Hatinawedu, 39, ran a workshop in Corby. He has been found guilty of selling 13 cars with tampered odometers, with one of the vehicles having as much as 130,000 miles removed from its clock, all in an attempt to deceive customers and get a higher price for his stock.
Making cars appears younger than they are can be dangerous for the new owners - whether that is a standard motorist or fellow car dealer - as it can lead to unsuspecting faults appearing at inopportune moments. For motor traders, having a road risks insurance policy is one way that they can protect themselves from unforeseen accidents appearing while behind the wheel of their customers' cars.
According to the Northampton Chronicle & Echo, Mr Hatinawedu made £12,000 of profit through clocking the vehicles' mileage. An investigation by Northamptonshire County Council Trading Standards officers led to him being charged with 17 counts of fraud.
He was sentenced to an 18-month suspended prison sentence and 250 hours of unpaid work and was ordered to pay £500 costs during a hearing at Northampton Crown Court on Tuesday. The court also imposed a six-month curfew between the hours of 7pm and 7am.
The news follows an announcement from the European Union, as we reported earlier in the week, in which it was revealed that all firms involved in ‘mileage correction’ will be banned from trading as of 2018.
