Two Nottingham car dealers who clocked 13 cars by more than one million miles and sold false documents have been jailed.
Meti Zielinski, 23, of Sandon Street, in Basford, and Brother-in-law, Marcin Kaminski 27, of Pavior Road, Bestwood, have been sentenced to 15 months in prison for selling cars with fake MOT certificates and service histories.
The men have also been ordered to pay £20,000 for their crimes, committed between 2013 and 2015, under the Proceeds of Crime Act after admitting the offences at Nottingham Crown Court.
The Judge said: “This was without doubt a sophisticated operation, and garage stamps added authenticity to persuade people to depart from hard earned money.”
The men tampered with 17 vehicles, cutting the mileage on 13 of them by around half and reducing the total by 1,159,743 miles. All the vehicles were then sold with false documents.
numerous citizens out of pocket
Meti Zielinski spent his time at car auctions and surfing the internet for vehicles, while Marcin Kaminski who was a mechanic, used his employer’s account to sell the vehicles.
The family, who run a valeting service from their home in Sandon Street, had the front garden set up like a forecourt.
Cash, false service stamps and paperwork was found for more than 70 vehicles that had been bought, advertised and sold on to victims across the country, using various phone numbers, email accounts and names.
Jane Bailey, Nottingham City Council’s trading standards manager, said: “This is the second major car clocking case we have put before the courts in recent weeks. We are pleased that the defendants have been given significant sentences for these crimes, which have left numerous citizens out of pocket. ”
Last month two brothers from Lenton Abbey were also caught clocking cars and selling them with fake MOTs, using the bank accounts of their dead grandparents to get false tax discs.
Kaas Abbas, 23, and Zikria Abbas, 25, of Hathern Green, Lenton Abbey, were jailed for 18 months.
The website https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history will allow potential second hand buyers to check the genuine mileage of any vehicle they are considering buying.
