Garage owner fined £2000 after selling unroadworthy car - The Leamington Observer

Garage owner fined £2000 after selling unroadworthy car

Leamington Editorial 16th Sep, 2019   0

A GARAGE owner in Stratford has been fined £2000 after selling an unroadworthy car.

Warwickshire County Council’s Trading Standards Service brought the prosecution against Aspi Mobed, trading as Aspi Specialist Cars in Warwick Road, after receiving a complaint from a buyer who had purchased a Saab 9-3.

The car had been advertised on Ebay described as “very good indeed”, “a nice bright car” and “quite remarkable for miles covered.”

But when he bought the car he was asked to sign a document that stated the car was being sold as a ‘trade sale’ and no refunds or compensation would be given after it had been driven away. Such statements are illegal as they seek to give buyers the false impression they have no legal right to return the vehicle if a fault occurs.




On driving the car away, the new owner immediately noticed a droning noise and took it to another garage which identified a number of faults.

He then contacted Warwickshire Trading Standards which got an expert vehicle examiner to check the car.


A number of issues were identified which would attract failure notices during an MOT test and render the car dangerous and unroadworthy.

These included a broken front road spring which was highly likely to have caused a suspension collapse and the very real possibility the spring could then have severed the brake pipe. Other serious issues included a worn tyre, defective brakes, and failed drive shaft gaiter.

Warwickshire community safety spokesman Andy Crump said: “Unroadworthy vehicles put the lives of all road users at risk.

“Warwickshire Trading Standards Service will continue to take action to prevent the sale of unroadworthy vehicles, helping to ensure consumers don’t buy cars that could be worthless and potentially lethal to drive.”

At Nuneaton Magistrates Court 57-year-old Mobed, of Tanworth Lane Henley in Arden, pleaded guilty to one offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 and one offence under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

He was fined £2000, and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £100, and costs of £2583 – a total of £4,683.

Mobed represented himself in court.

In mitigation he stated he had been naïve, but had never tried to hide the car’s defects and had paid the buyer back his money.

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