A used car dealer and his former mechanic have been jailed after trading standards services uncovered evidence of clocked cars, forged documents and knowingly “misdescribed” vehicles.

Connan Alexander Harvey (28), formerly trading as Alex Harvey Specialist Cars at Priors Marsden, admitted to arranging for the mileage reading on an Audi TT to be wound back from 101,369 to 72,299 and selling another Audi TT knowing that the mileage was wrong.

The mileage was advertised as 79,000 but, in reality, was 147,464.

Warwick Crown Court heard that Harvey also described another vehicle he sold as having good tyres, a new cam belt and a 12 month MOT. The buyer later found that none of these statements were true.

Amit Mistry of Timkin Way Daventry (38), a mechanic used by Harvey, also admitted to fabricating or altering vehicle documents at the hearing.

Harvey was sentenced to 12 months and Mistry given a six-month sentence at a sentencing hearing at the Leamington Spa Justice Centre on March 2, the Banbury Guardian reported.

Warwickshire Trading Standards took up the case into Alex Harvey Specialist Cars after receiving several complaints from members of the public between November 2012 and February 2014.