Car dealer pleads guilty to selling a dangerous and unroadworthy vehicle
A Dudley car dealership and its director have been served a court bill of more than £22,000 after pleading guilty to selling a dangerous and unroadworthy car.
On Friday June 14, Dudley Magistrates’ Court heard that Mr Ali Mohammed, director of Dynamic Car Sales Ltd, Sedgley Road, Dudley sold a Ford Mondeo for £2,500 to an unsuspecting consumer from Lower Gornal in July 2023.
It was not until the consumer took the vehicle for a service in November 2023 that they found the extent of corrosion underneath the vehicle which was later assessed as “likely to result in the imminent potential failure of the rear suspension.”
The sale was reported to Dudley Council’s trading standards, which investigated the matter and consulted with a vehicle examiner.
The examiner reported that “the degree of excessive corrosion and deterioration on the underside units and components is consistent with long term degeneration over a prolonged period of time” and that the “defects were existing…at the time of sale.”
Dynamic Car Sales Ltd had bought the car from an auction for £1,050 about two weeks before selling the car. The business had not conducted any pre-delivery inspection checks on the car during this time.
The court handed Mohammed a fine of £10,000 and Dynamic Car Sales Ltd a fine of £2,500, together with a victim surcharge of £2,000. It also awarded the consumer full compensation of £2,576 and awarded Dudley Council full costs of £5,069. The court allowed for the scrapping of the vehicle.
Dr Mayada Abuaffan, director of public health at Dudley Council, said:
This prosecution shows that Dudley Trading Standards will not tolerate traders that ignore their responsibilities to ensure what they sell is safe.
Car traders must take reasonable precautions to check the vehicles are safe before they display them for sale. Relying on auction house checks and MOT test results does not amount to taking reasonable precautions.
Dudley Trading Standards will not hesitate to investigate complaints where consumers have been misled or where they have been sold a dangerous vehicle.
For more information about Dudley Trading Standards go to - https://www.dudley.gov.uk/business/trading-standards/