The Director General of Fair Trading John Bridgeman has urged the motor industry and consumers to embrace a new initiative to beat “cowboys, conmen and fraudsters”.

His comments followed news that a used car dealer was jailed by Northampton Crown Court for clocking vehicles. John Batten, who traded as Digital Dashboard Specialists, advertised “totally undetectable mileage corrections” and was imprisoned on dishonesty charges for six months.

Mr Bridgeman, speaking at the launch of the anti-clocking initiative in Sussex, believed that only “joined up action” involving trading standards, police, consumers and reputable used car dealers could defeat clockers and retailers of unsafe or stolen vehicles.