Longford car dealers jailed for fraud

[dutchman]

Rogue traders who flogged dodgy cars that often broke down minutes after being driven off the forecourt have been jailed.

Coventry Trading Standards decided to take action against David Barber and Martin Pittaway, both aged 40, after complaints from customers about the state of the cars they were sold.

And at the crown court in Leamington, Barber, of Walsgrave Road, Walsgrave, was jailed for 32 months, and Pittaway, of Dorchester Way, Walsgrave, received 283 days behind bars.

A third defendant, Gurdip Virdi, of Vicarage Lane, Ash Green, was ordered to pay £20,868.82 in fines, compensation and costs.

The trio had traded under numerous names including Longford Park Car Sales and Barber Cars at 101A Longford Road, Coventry.

They admitted a charge of supplying unroadworthy vehicles - often describing vehicles as “in lovely condition and fault free” when the opposite was true.

Some vehicles were clocked and deposits were taken and not refunded.

When customers complained they sometimes received an aggressive response threatening violence to them or their property.

Others were shown fake adverts and e-mails to discourage them from taking their complaints any further.

Barber pleaded guilty to a total of 17 offences relating to fraud and selling unroadworthy cars.

Virdi admitted four regulatory offences relating to four cars and Pittaway admitted a fraud offence and a separate theft.

Coun Patricia Hetherton, chair of the licensing and regulatory committee, said “This is a result for justice.

“Unfortunately, the defendants continued to trade in an irresponsible manner and brought misery and distress to a large number of people.

“Where we see wrong doings of this nature we will authorise a prosecution, which as in this case, can lead to people losing their liberty for a very long time.

“This was a complex and time consuming case involving offences relating to ten vehicles and the need to obtain evidence from many witnesses.

“I hope it serves as a deterrent to those traders who are minded to break the law in the future.”

[rebbonk]

Took long enough!

A quick internet trawl shows what's been going on over the last few years. The complaints are legion.

Since the car lot is still trading, who now owns it and have they cleaned up their act?