TWO men who wiped four million miles off the ‘clocks’ of cars they sold in East Lancashire have been jailed for more than four years.

Between them Nazim Hussain, 32, and Mohammed Aseeb Hussain, 29, spent £3.3million buying up hundreds of cars from one auction company alone over a two-year period, Preston Crown Court heard.

But Lancashire Trading Standards were flooded with complaints regarding their used car operations in Accrington, the court was told.

And when investigators started probing the brothers racket, they discovered one Ford Galaxy alone had seen its odometer turned back by 234,000 miles.

Customers from across the country, including victims from Colne, Todmorden and Whittle-le-Woods, were duped.

Prosecutor Richard Heller said that motorists frequently experienced mechanical problems with cars they had bought from the brothers.

He said one driver never even made it home before his car broke down.

“Witnesses report that when inspecting the vehicles for sale, no disclaimers were present on or around the instruments panel and at no time did the person selling the vehicle inform them that the mileage reading may have been inaccurate,” he told the court.

Trading standards officers found that Nazim Hussain had bought 277 cars and Aseeb Hussain had purchased 334 during 2011 and 2012, most with mileages topping 100,000 miles.

Each of them were ‘platinum’ card carriers with a national car auction site - awarded to dealers who bought between 100 and 499 cars in a 12-month spell - entitling them to commission discounts.

But given the sheer scale of their combined operation, investigators decided to focus on just 36 vehicles, including BMWs, Mercedes Benz and Land Rovers, which they believed were ‘clocked’ during that time, for the case against the brothers, the court heard.

Three cars, including two Galaxy cars and aToyota Avensis, were ‘clocked’ by more than 200,000 miles, more than half of those checked had been reduced by more than 100,000 miles and none had been altered by less than 46,000 miles.

Mr Heller said that the calculated loss to customers was at least £150,000, and the perceived profit to the brothers, for the 36 identified cars, was around £40,000.

The court heard one customer was said to have been contacted by Nazim Hussain, offering an Audi A4 S-Line and £1,500 in part-exchange for a car he had for sale, for £12,000, on eBay.

When the customer inspected the A4 the mileage was 77,000 miles and he agreed to the offer. But he later discovered that the true mileage was around 166,000 miles, resulting in him overpaying for the Audi by between £5,000 and £8,000.

Mr Heller said that when the customer rang Nazim Hussain to complain he was sworn at and told nothing could be done for him.

Nazim Hussain, of Blackburn Road, and Aseeb Hussain, of Knotwood Court, both Accrington, each pleaded guilty to participating in a fraudulent business between January 2011 and December 2012. Nazim was jailed for 26 months and Aseeb for 24 months.

The court heard that the pair sold vehicles from a number of locations in Accrington, including a lock-up in Dale Street, Accrington, linked to the Hussain family, under a number of different identities, such as AA Cars and Acorn Motors.

The prosecution’s case was that the men had traded both together and alone, as required, but it was clear that each knew of the other’s activities.

“There can be no doubt that the same mode of operation was used by both defendants, which cannot be discounted as coincidence,” said Mr Heller.

The investigators found none of the car sales firms set up by the brothers were officially registered with Companies House.

 

* In the print edition of this story a picture purporting to be Nazim Hussain was used. The picture, which was supplied by Trading Standards, was actually his brother Mozam Hussain and we are happy to set the record straight.