A second-hand car dealer in Bournemouth has been prosecuted and ordered to pay more than £5,000 after selling a ‘clocked’ van.
Ian Loder (61) pleaded guilty at Poole Magistrate’s Court on Thursday to two offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. He had misled a customer about the previous mileage of a VW Transporter Van which he sold from his business in Bournemouth.
The court ordered Loder to pay the customer £3,500 compensation, fines of £500 and a further £1,030 in costs.
In April 2017 the victim saw an advert on eBay for a van that had supposedly travelled 89,000 miles. When the customer paid for the vehicle Loder wrote on the invoice “Not Warranted Mileage Incorrect” and gave no explanation – the customer thought it referred to the fact that at the time of the sale the van had travelled 91,000 miles.
When things began to go wrong with the vehicle, it emerged that it had actually travelled more than 243,000 miles. The customer said he would never have considered buying the van had he known the true mileage.
In mitigation, Mr Loder’s legal representative told the court that he had been particularly unwell at the time and as a result he was no longer in business.
Richard Herringshaw, Principal Trading Standards Officer with Dorset County Council, said: “The sale of second-hand vehicles is one of the largest areas of concern for trading standards. Businesses need to make sure that they take steps to check that their vehicles are described accurately.”
