Kent Trading Standards call time on vehicle clocking criminals

Seized CCTV footage from premises in Sandwich showed Cradduck plugging in his laptop and tampering with the dashboards, in slang terms giving the vehicles a ‘haircut’. More than 100,000 miles were wiped from 10 of the vehicles. The largest deduction in one go was 163,000.

Those cars and vans then started breaking down.

Kent Trading Standards got its first lead in 2018 with a van bought by a father for his son-in-law, medically retired from the army and starting a carpentry business. It did not make the journey from the pick-up point in Ramsgate home to North Yorkshire and when a phone call was made to the dealer, the new owner was threatened with physical violence.

Operation Blackboard was launched, supported by National Trading Standards (NTS) Tri Region Investigation Team, when requested information back from car auction houses highlighted more than 20 trading names linked to the group, and that buy and sell mileages were not tallying.

A warrant was executed at a unit at the Old Boatyard, Sandwich, and together with the CCTV, fake logbooks and MOT certificates and ‘ringing’ kits, used to change the identity of a vehicle by removing the chassis number and generating new number plates were taken away. So too were files of meticulously-kept sales records, and in a first for the team, a handwriting expert was brought in to prove who was responsible.

Kent Police provided support including its vehicle examinations unit which extracted data from the vehicles’ various electronic control units that did not correspond to the mileage displayed on the dashes.

Phone, email and bank accounts were all interrogated. As well as the commercial operation, Cradduck was regularly receiving requests from people wanting to clock their lease vehicles back to the mileage range where they would not be financially penalised. His going rate was £50 a time.

He had gone a step further and in his BMW had illegal tech called a ‘cam blocker’ fitted, which stops mileage being added.

In total, the team gathered and cross-referenced information relating to more than 200 vehicles handled by the group. Auto Trader and eBay assisted with the investigation. The case file runs into hundreds of thousands of documents and took hundreds of hours of work.

The three men initially went ‘no comment’ in interviews, but by Christmas 2024, all had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud.

KCC’s Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services, Clair Bell, said: “The Trading Standards’ team do not commit to an investigation of this nature lightly, but they did so based on the harm that was being caused in this case.

“This group were allowing people to drive away in potentially dangerous cars and vans, completely in the dark about their vehicle’s history. The new owners took a financial hit, unknowingly paying too much to begin with and many then having huge repair bills on top.

“The offenders’ actions also undermine trust in the used vehicle market.

“I commend the team for their extensive investigation into a complex web of criminality and deception, requiring significant endurance as they pieced together a shocking picture of systematic mileage adjustment on an industrial scale.

“The outcome represents a significant victory in the fight against organised crime and fraudulent trading practices and I hope acts as a warning to others.”

Clive Phillips, Operations Manager for Complex Investigations at Kent Trading Standards, said: "This successful prosecution is a testament to the dedication and hard work of the Trading Standards team. We are committed to protecting consumers and legitimate businesses, ensuring that those who engage in fraudulent activities are brought to justice.

“The successful prosecution of the defendants in Operation Blackboard highlights the importance of vigilance and thorough investigation in combating fraud. Kent County Council remains dedicated to safeguarding the public from deceptive practices and will continue to work tirelessly to uphold the law.”

Ian Wright, Operations manager for the NTS Tri Region Investigation Team said: “We are pleased to have been able to support Kent TS with this investigation. The practice of altering vehicle mileages, car clocking and in this case commercial vehicles, is both illegal and could endanger lives.”

Lord Michael Bichard, Chair, National Trading Standards, said: "Vehicle ‘clocking’ is a serious crime that puts lives at risk as well as defrauding customers out of their hard-earned cash. Not only that - it also damages the reputation of honest businesses in the sector.

“I would like to thank the diligent work of the highly skilled investigators at Kent County Council and the NTS Tri Region Team whose work has brought these criminals to justice.

“Today’s sentencing sends a strong message to those who consider profiting through deception - fraud is a serious crime. We encourage people to report suspected cases to the Citizens Advice consumer service.”

Raghu Malhotra from Sittingbourne bought a 64 plate black Volkswagen Golf from the group with 44,000 miles on the clock, 102,000 higher than the true figure. He paid just under £10,000 for it, nearly £2,000 more than it was purchased for at auction.

He said: “I bought the car with the mileage that was on the clock assuming it was correct. I didn't do as many checks as I could have, but it seemed like a good deal, so I bought it. I then thought because it didn't have a service history that there was a possibility it might have been clocked and I actually rang up the main dealer and found out the mileages at the service intervals. Obviously they were a lot higher than on the car.

“There's a big financial loss and there is a sense that I should have known better, and I should have done a few more checks before buying it. My message to other people is not to rush into buying even when it seems like a very good deal. There may be a reason for that. It’s worth carrying out checks with the main dealership.”