A WORKER at a Blackburn car dealership was given a police caution after it was discovered he had actually sold a car belonging to his employers.

But subsequent inquiries revealed David Anthony Buck had sold two other Mercedes cars and a four-wheel drive vehicle without permission.

MORE TOP STORIES:

Buck, 41, of Yew Tree Drive, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to theft of a Mercedes worth £7,000, a Mercedes worth £5,000 and a VW Touran worth £9,000 all belonging to the Mercedes Group. He was sent on bail to Preston Crown Court to be sentenced.

Rachael Parker, prosecuting, said after the police caution, a stock check had been carried out which revealed the three other missing vehicles.

One of the cars had been sold through a car sales company in Brierfield and another was seized in Manchester after being sold to a man who saw it in Autotrader.

A man called Andrew Long confirmed to police that he had bought all three vehicles off Buck.

They had come with all the documentation and keys and he had believed Buck when he said the Mercedes dealership knew what he was doing.

He said that the cars would have been going to auction anyway.

Miss Parker said all three vehicles had been returned to the Mercedes dealership in Blackburn.

When he was interviewed Buck said he had received £1,500 for one of the cars but said he had not received anything for the others.

Mr Long said he had given him money for each of the cars totalling £14,000.

She applied for compensation for the buyers of the cars in the sums of £3,800, £9,230 and £7,500, the money they had paid for the vehicles which had now been returned to the dealer.

Gareth Price, defending, said his client had only worked for Mercedes for a few months and his duties had included moving cars to a compound prior to them being sold on.

“The offence was very unsophisticated. He simply didn’t deliver them and then sold them on himself,” said Mr Price. “This was motivated by my client’s own financial difficulties which are significant.”