Peter Townsend, sold a number of clocked cars ostensibly as private sales but also ran a car site under the company name of Vale Road Car Sales Ltd in Rhyl, North Wales.

After a customer complaint local Trading Standards Officers investigated Townsend but during that time an article appeared in a local newspaper portraying him as a moral trader and promoting the values of being a car valeter.

The excuse for the alteration of the odometers was that the odometers became faulty after the cars had been purchased from a local auction. Townsend alleged he had relied on a local auto electrician to sort out the odometer problems but Trading Standards eventually came to the conclusion that ‘Ted’ the auto electrician didn’t exist.

Townsend was eventually fined for Trade Descriptions Act and theft charges to the sum of £6,000 and £10,000 costs. He will be subject to a hearing for a proceeds-of-crime application in April of this year.

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