A used car dealer who admitted selling five clockedcars – selling one of them twice – has escaped an immediate custodial sentence.

Neel Shah was handed a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years, at Luton Crown Court after the court concluded that he would be unable to repay his customers if jailed.

The 23-year-old, formally of John Street, Luton, was ordered to pay £2,000 in court costs, £5,500 in compensation to victims and agreed to fully compensate all six customers a total of £16,640.

He pleaded guilty to fraud charges following an investigation by Luton Borough Council's Trading Standards team, Luton on Sunday reported.

Shah, director of NJS Enterprise Ltd, had previously been convicted in 2013 of similar offences whilst trading as ND Cars in Dunstable.           

No allegation was made that he had clocked the cars but the court heard that he had made no attempt to ensure that the mileage on the vehicles was correct and where he knew it was wrong, he withheld this information from customers.