An independent used car dealership has been ordered to pay £14,000 after attempting to sell and Audi Q7 SUV having ‘clocked’ the vehicle to remove 30,000 miles from its mileage.

S Cars Limited and its owner Sanjib Saggar (49), of Queen Anne Garage, Church Road, Shaw, were the subject of an investigation carried out by Oldham Council’s Trading Standards Department after the authority received a complaint from a customer who had bought the Audi Q7 and later discovered a mileage discrepancy.

During the investigation mileage records were obtained from a range of sources which showed that the premium SUV’s mileage discrepancy – of “at least 30,000 miles” – had been on the car auction listing seen by S Cars before they purchased the vehicle.

The listing detailed previous MOT mileage readings showing the drop in the vehicle’s mileage.

However, S Cars did not mention this mileage discrepancy in their online advert or when they sold the car on to the customer.

Following a two-day trial, which started on March 4 at Tameside Magistrates’ Court, S Cars Limited and Saggar were found guilty of four offences under the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008 and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

It was the second time Saggar had been prosecuted by Oldham Council for misleading customers.

The magistrates also ruled that by advertising and selling the vehicle without failing to disclose the mileage discrepancy, or investigate it further, S Cars had not carried out any due diligence despite previously receiving advice on checking mileages from trading standards.

The defendants were ordered to pay a £4,000 fine, £6401.54 costs, £4,045 in compensation as well as a victim surcharge of £170.

Councillor Ateeque Ur Rehman, cabinet member for neighbourhood services at Oldham Council, said: “Saggar continues to pass himself off as an honest car salesman, but we’ve caught him out yet again.

“He could easily have returned the car and got his money back but he decided to sell it on and deceive an honest member of the public.

“Hopefully, his dishonest practices have now reached the end of the road.”