Business information

Wheels come off for car-selling trio

Three men left Hertford Magistrates' Court with fines and costs of more than £18,000 over another Hertfordshire 'car-matching' enterprise that left customers out of pocket. The prosecution followed an investigation by Hertfordshire Trading Standards.

Barry Nagioff, Clayton John Leathers and Justin David Leathers pleaded guilty to a total of 51 charges each for the actions of three Cheshunt-based 'vehicle matching' companies - Motorlink, Vehiclelink and Vehicles Exchange - that misled their customers. The offences, which were under the Trade Descriptions Act and the Consumer Protection Act were committed between January and September 2006.

The companies cold-called people who advertised their vehicles for sale in various publications and gave them a hard sell - claiming that they had buyers already lined up. People who were persuaded by these claims handed over a fee of up to £99.99. They were also promised that if the vehicle was sold - or if it remained unsold after a few days - the fee would be refunded.

It sounded too good to be true and it was. After handing over the money, usually by credit card over the telephone, they heard no more: no buyers, sale, or refund.

Motorlink Services Limited ran from Turners Hill in Cheshunt what they described as a 'car-matching service' - in reality a website advertising service. Motorlink Services Limited eventually failed and The Bluebell Group Limited who traded as Vehiclelink took over the business. The Bluebell Group Limited then failed and Vehicles Exchange Limited took over the business. Barry Nagioff, Clayton Leathers and Justin Leathers were managers and owners of all three companies.

The companies have ceased trading and vacated their premises so Hertfordshire Trading Standards acted against the company managers personally.

The court heard that claims made by the companies were untrue - which was supported by evidence from nine consumers who had been duped by the three companies as well as an undercover telephone purchase made by Trading Standards that was recorded and played back to the court.

There had never been an instance of a fee being refunded for failure to match; the list of supposed buyers included people as far away as Cornwall or Scotland and did not necessarily indicate a 'match' to a specific kind of car. The records of Motorlink Ltd showed around 4,000 potential buyers - just over a quarter of whom had been sent information yet the company claimed to send 150,000 messages to buyers and sellers a month.

Hertford Magistrates fined each manager £4,080 and ordered each to also pay £1,660 in costs to the county council. The court also awarded a total of £840 compensation to the victims of the scam. All three managers were additionally disqualified from running a company for 18 months.

"It was clear from our own investigations and from the evidence presented in court that these were not a few isolated offences but examples of the cynical trading practices of the companies involved," said Executive Member for Community Safety and Culture, Keith Emsall. "This was an excellent result, with significant fines that reflect the serious and serial nature of the offences.

"The case once again highlights the fact that there are strict laws in place about false claims by traders. Put simply, if you advertise and take money for goods or services that will not materialise, you are running a scam, not a business and you will find yourself in court."

Hertfordshire Trading Standards is repeating its advice to consumers not to buy from cold callers and never to give out credit card details unless they are confident in the services offered and intend to go through with the deal.

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