A Carlisle man was today sentenced to 18 months imprisonment - suspended for two years - for clocking cars. Alan Hodgson, aged 36, from Oakleigh Way, Carlisle, pleaded guilty at Carlisle Crown Court to twelve breaches of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 and to one charge of conspiring to supply clocked cars.
In sentencing, his Honour Judge Batty said: "In my opinion, you are not fit to sell scrap metal. The people of Cumbria ought to give you a very wide berth."
At the time of the offences Hodgson traded from a garage premises on Station Road, Wigton. Hodgson pleaded guilty to clocking five cars, to making false claims as to the existence of a warranty on two cars, to supplying five cars which had false odometer readings and to conspiring with John Albert Girdler from 1/1/04 to 30/4/05 to supply motor cars to which false trade descriptions had been applied.
Phil Ashcroft, Head of Cumbria County Council's Trading Standards department which brought the prosecution said: "This was a particularly difficult investigation given that Hodgson maintained, until late in the proceedings, that the mileage reductions were the result of actions by a fictitious business partner.
"It is essential that the mileage showing on the clock is accurate, because this is a significant factor for buyers when deciding which car to purchase. It is also very important that when Trading Standards officers are making enquiries, that they are not deliberately given false information. Girdler was foolish in trying to fabricate invoices in an attempt to mislead."
Hodgson had previous form for clocking cars, having been sentenced in 1997 to three months imprisonment for winding back the mileages on cars before selling them.
A second defendant, John Albert Girdler of Springfields, Wigton, pleaded guilty to conspiring with Alan Hodgson to supply clocked cars and to providing false information to a Trading Standards Officer. He was sentenced to 80 hours community punishment order.
Hodgson and Girdler were ordered to pay £1,000 each towards prosecution costs.
ENDS
Media enquiries to Mark Graham, Media Officer on 01228-606337
Notes for editors
Clocking is the act of reducing the mileage reading on an odometer to make it look a more attractive buy.