Victims ‘robbed’ by criminals in vehicles

Victims who bought fixed mileage cars and vans say they have been “duped” by fraudsters who have removed a total of 2,000,000 miles from the vehicle odometer.

Ryan Regan, Thomas Hamilton and Darren Craddock, from Kent, were given suspended sentences at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday.

Mason Thomas, 61, of Hastings, unknowingly purchased a van from the group that had nearly 100,000 miles on the odometer.

He said: “Everything seemed legitimate, but I was thrown upside down, I feel a bit bad.”

Clocking occurs when the total trip miles displayed on a vehicle’s dashboard are tampered with.

Odometer is a device that measures the distance traveled by a vehicle.

By reducing the mileage on vehicles, fraudsters can sell them at a higher price.

Kent Trading Standards said Regan, Hamilton and Craddock bought 21 high-mileage vehicles at auction and their travel distances were reduced by an average of 90,500 miles.

The largest mileage reduction in a vehicle was 163,000 miles.

Mr Thomas bought the Citroën Dispatch from dealers.

When he took the van for an MOT a year later, he was contacted by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), who told him there was a problem with the mileage.

Upon further investigation by Kent Trading Standards, the total amount observed was found to be approximately 100,000 miles.

Mr Thomas said: “It really leaves a sour taste in your mouth. It had a full service history, it had an MOT on it which was the same as on the watch but now we know all that wasn’t true.

He added, “I feel a bit like a mug.”

The group’s investigation began in 2018 when a victim broke down on a drive to North Yorkshire after buying a van in Sandwich.

Kent Trading Standards requested information about dealers from online auction sites, highlighting 20 different trading names linked to the group, and profits from purchases and sales that did not match.

A search warrant was carried out at the unit in The Old Boatyard, Sandwich where fake log books and MOT certificates were found.

Data extracted from the electronic control units of the vehicles was also found to be inconsistent with the mileage displayed on the dashboard.

Kent Trading Standards said it had received evidence relating to 22 victims.

In December, Regan, Hamilton, and Craddock pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud.

Evidence obtained from phones, emails and bank accounts also revealed that Craddock was receiving requests from motorists wanting to have their lease vehicles looked at so they would not be charged extra for exceeding their mileage allowance, Trading Standards said. Said.

He charged £50 per car and called it a “haircut”.

Kent County Council’s barrister said the value of the fraud, based on the profits made from the sale of these vehicles, was £80,000.

Barrister Alison Lambert told the court that documents on 303 vehicles were seized and odometers on 98 vehicles were found to have been tampered with.

Raghu Malhotra bought a Volkswagen (VW) Golf for around £10,000.

The fraudulent sellers did not have the service history of the car so Mr Malhotra contacted the main VW dealership.

When he bought the car the odometer was at 44,000 miles.

He said: “I checked the mileage at service intervals and they were much higher than the car was.”

He sold the car three months later at a loss of £5,000 because an extra 102,045 miles had been removed from the odometer by criminals.

He said: “There has been a huge financial loss, and a feeling of ‘I really should have known better’.”

Clive Phillips, operations manager at Kent Trading Standards, said the investigation was unprecedented in size and scale for Kent County Council.

He said: “Two million miles is shocking, it is a serious crime and that is why we prosecuted.

“They were reducing the mileage significantly which was leaving people out of pocket.

“We suspect that he has achieved much more than we have been able to prove and show to the court.”

At sentencing, Judge Edmund Fowler said there had been “extreme delays” in the case, which he took into account when sentencing.

Ryan Regan and Thomas Hamilton were given two-year prison sentences, suspended for two years.

Darren Craddock was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.

All three will have to pay compensation and do 200 hours of unpaid work.