Car supermarket fined for deceiving buyers about ULEZ vehicles

Deceiving customers into believing cars it sold were compliant with London's ULEZ restrictions has led to £65,483 in fines, costs and compensation for Hilton Car Supermarket, the trading name of Elite Automotive in West London.

Hilton Car Supermarket in Hayes was "deliberately misleading customers", Uxbridge Magistrates Court was told, with "wilful blindness".

The issues came to light when one car buyer contacted Hillingdon Council's Trading Standards team to reveal they had bought a car which the used car dealership had advertised as ULEZ compliant for their commute into the zone, but then accrued £240 in charges.

Cars whose emissions do not meet the ultra low emissions zone limits must pay £12.50 per day to enter London's ULEZ area.

The customer managed to return the car to Hilton Car Supermarket for a full refund, but the dealership would only reimburse half of the ULEZ charges the customer had racked up, and the car was re-advertised still as ULEZ charge exempt.

Trading Standards officers found five other cars incorrectly listed as "ULEZ free" initially, plus another 14 vehicles in further checks several months later.

On June 29 Elite Automotive, trading as Hilton Car Supermarket of Uxbridge Road, Hayes, admitted 12 breaches of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

It was fined £58,825 for the breaches, and ordered to pay £5,348 costs, £1,120 compensation to the customer and a victim surcharge of £190.

The directors of the company, according to Companies House, are Chandandeep Singh, Sana Shafi and Nancy Nibber and the majority shareholder is Syed Shahryar Kamal.

Elite Automotive also has branches of Hilton Car Supermarket at Bletchley, Milton Keynes, and at Weston Turville, Aylesbury.