A CAR trader who clocked cars and set up businesses using false details has been jailed for almost three years.
Andrew Whitehead, of Mount Pleasant in Redditch, was sentenced at Worcester Crown Court last Friday (July 10) to 33 months in prison and disqualified as a company director for six years after admitting at an earlier hearing offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, Consumer Credit Act 1974 and Fraud Act 2006.
The 34-year-old ran Purple Cars Ltd and Apex Car Finance Ltd from premises in Solihull and Stockwood Business Park. The Trading Standards team from Worcestershire Regulatory Services started investigating his dealings after residents complained they had been duped into buying vehicles with significantly lowered mileages.
The court was told he had adjusted the mileages for four vehicles totalling 222,444 miles. The first offence occurred in May 2012, just three months after he had been released from prison in relation to other matters.
Judge Nicholas Cartwright told Whitehead he had put his own wants above the needs of others and he considered his actions to be a planned confidence fraud involving innocent victims.
Coun Mark Bullivant, joint committee chair of Worcestershire Regulatory Services, said: “The WRS Trading Standards Team always play a vital role in protecting the community from criminals who use their businesses to defraud public. I know they will continue their hard work to make sure justice is done and our community is safe.”
