Howard Garages (Weston) Limited has been fined after
admitting making a false entry in the service book of a used car
sold by them.
Today (20 January) at Flax Bourton Magistrates Court, Peter
Bull, a Director of the company entered a guilty plea to an offence
under Section 1(1)(a) of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968, in that
they applied a false trade description to the goods.
The court fined the company £2700 and awarded costs against them
of £2613.40.
In October 2004, Peter Hill, a driving instructor agreed to
purchase a used ‘03’ registration Nissan Micra from Howards Nissan
in Weston-super-Mare. The car had done 15,000 miles and as part of
the contract he asked that it have a Full Service before delivery
to him. Howard’s delivered the car to his home on 22 October 2004
with the service book. Mr Hill examined the service book and found
that it indeed indicated that Howard’s had given the car a ‘Major
Service’.
He then examined the air cleaner which he found to be dirty and
looked at the spark plugs which looked used. On examination he also
suspected the oil and oil filter had not been changed. He
took the car to his local garage and instructed them to
remove and retain the air cleaner and spark plugs. His prompt
action preserved the evidence which was later presented to the
Trading Standards Service.
A consulting motor engineer was employed to examine the air cleaner
and spark plugs and he stated that these items had not been
replaced recently and in his opinion were original from new.
Mandy Bishop, Environmental and Consumer Services Group Manager
for North Somerset Council, said: "Consumers pay a premium when
they buy from a Main Dealer and for that they expect to be able to
trust them. I am very disappointed that this dealer has let the
consumer down. We will continue to focus on the activities of the
motor trade and try to raise standards."
