Civil servant ‘clocked’ cars and sold them on

Civil servant ‘clocked’ cars and sold them on

6 November 2013

A CROSSGAR civil servant who ‘clocked’ cars and sold them to unsuspecting buyers has received a suspended prison sentence.

Twenty five year-old David Gregge reduced the mileage on three vehicles before police were alerted and an investigation began. It later emerged that Gregge had ‘clocked’ three cars.

At Downpatrick Court on Monday Gregge, of Rocks Chapel Road, admitted three counts of fraud, two of engaging in misleading commercial practices and two of engaging in unfair commercial practices.

Gregge’s scam revolved around cars he bought from a used car dealer. He then turned the mileometers back and sold them through the Gumtree website to three unsuspecting people.

Gregge ‘clocked’ a Ford Fiesta, a Jeep Grand Cherokee and a BMW 320d Sport that all had more than 100,000 miles on them. One vehicle had a previous mileage of 112,000 miles reduced to 85,000, another was reduced from 136,000 to 95,000 while a third had been altered from 129,000 miles down to 93,000 miles.

He has since repaid £600 to the owner of the Ford Fiesta but no money was paid to the owners of the other vehicles.

Gregge, who works part-time as a public servant, committed the crimes in order to obtain money, his solicitor explained.

“The motivation was solely financial gain,” he said.

Deputy District Judge Mr. Austin Kennedy sentenced Gregge to a two month suspended prison sentence.

Clocking vehicles is always a particularly nasty offence,” he said. “I take a very serious view of these types of cases. This happens far too often and the courts need to stamp it out.”

He also ordered Gregge to pay £1,000 compensation to the owner of the BMW and £750 compensation to the owner of the Jeep.

It was the Trading Standards Service which alerted police to the matter and in a statement after the case a senior official said ‘clocking’ cars is a very serious matter.

The Department views clocking and the sale of clocked cars as a very serious matter,” Ms Kerry McAuley, of the Trading Standards Service said.

“The number of vehicles uncovered by this investigation and the degree by which their mileages had been altered, points to a systematic clocking operation by Mr Gregge,” said Ms. Kerry McAuley.

“He purchased cars, with high mileages, reduced the mileage and sold them to unsuspecting consumers in Northern Ireland.

“Mr Gregge also went to great lengths to mislead his customers by using a false service book,” Ms McAuley added. “This added another layer of deceit to his business operations as it helped ‘authenticate’ the mileage of the vehicle.”