Ryan Regan, 34, of Wallace Way, Broadstairs, Thomas Hamilton, 34, of Hugin Avenue, Broadstairs, and Darren Cradduck, 59, of Beech Avenue, Chartham, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and were at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday 24 January to hear His Honour Judge Edmund Fowler give them suspended prison sentences.
In his comments he said the acts were deliberate, sophisticated, with much planning over a considerable amount of time and no thought for those who had had a loss. Victims were saddled with worn out vans and it was down to the group's combined selfishness and greed with precious little empathy seen.
Here, Kent Trading Standards officer Sara Whiteley talks about working on Operation Blackboard and builder Ian North, who bought a van from the group, explains the impact of the crime on him.
Kent Trading Standards' secure store currently looks and to a degree smells like a breakers yard.
Car parts form evidence gathered during Operation Blackboard, which reached a conclusion on Friday.
Without hesitation, investigating officer Sara Whiteley, with 19 years’ service to her name, says it is one of the most complex cases she, and probably all of her colleagues, have ever been tasked with handling.
And a steep learning curve, turning them into pseudo industry experts in areas like onboard vehicle computers.
The worst part was making the calls to people all over the country who did not know their vehicle had in some cases done 100,000 more miles than the odometer was telling them.
One was a foster carer, fastidious with their research and then really pleased with the purchase of what they thought was a safe family car. Another was an Amazon driver at risk of losing his job as his new van actually had more than the 100,000 miles on the clock than his work contract stipulated, and more than the one he had traded it in for.
Sara said: “Once we'd identified vehicles we believed had had their mileage changed, we then had to approach the final purchasers to say the vehicle is potentially not as you think it is. For a lot of consumers that came as a massive shock.
“People had paid out huge amounts of money for their vehicle only to find it wasn’t worth that. Some vehicles had crash damage, which wasn't declared either.
Regan and Cradduck working on a van at the yard in Sandwich
“It took us a vast amount of time to go through the paperwork and be able to get that end-to-end evidence showing mileage at the start, where it was sold, who it was sold to, was there any work done to that vehicle and what did the final consumer think they were buying.
“We had people from all over the place because when buying a car these days, you don't necessarily always go to the local garage down the road, you're looking online.
“It's awful breaking the news. They've bought something that isn't what they thought it was and could be damaging. It could cause them to have an accident. That has been horrible to deal with.
“When you've got a grown man crying on the end of the phone with you, saying this is giving him sleepless nights. Another who got some money after a grandparent died and they were going to invest it and that has totally gone for them now.”
"From the start it was about deceiving people and making as much money as possible without arousing suspicion"
By the time Operation Blackboard was launched, the group had more 20 company names in the mix across numerous channels including Auto Trader, eBay, Facebook pages and local newspapers.
Sara said: “One of the reasons why it hadn’t immediately been flagged with our intel was because there were multiple business names that would be changing on a frequent basis due to the levels of customer complaint. They would then scrap that business and start up again under another guise. There were also lots of different avenues they were using to sell these vehicles. Unless you started to pull on that thread, you wouldn't know that they were all connected.”
Cradduck and Hamilton looking working the bonnet of a van. The footage comes from their CCTV cameras
Good evidence was provided by the CCTV, seized when an entry warrant was executed.
Hours of, at times, wearisome viewing for officers started to bear fruit, offering a picture of how the business was operating with activities outside a standard working day, vehicle movements and visitors.
Sara said: “They were also good at keeping records, which for us was a bonus.
“The group very much knew what they were doing. They were trying to present a vehicle as being two years old with 5,000 miles on it with hardly any wear and tear when it was actually 105,000. There is no way on earth the buyer would have bought the vehicle had they known the true mileage and the true condition of the vehicle.
“From the start it was about deceiving people and making as much money as possible without arousing suspicion.
“During the interviews, the clocker tried to convince us we were wrong; that this is a very specialised thing and we, Trading Standards people, have got no idea what we're talking about because we’re not involved in this industry. They were very, very derogatory towards victims and were trying to undermine us at every turn.
“Then we got the guilty pleas. Securing a conspiracy to defraud conviction is more challenging as there are many more elements that need to be proven.
“I was very invested in it. As tough as it was, it was a really great investigation to be involved with and it took a huge team effort to get it over the line. I'm just so pleased that we finally got a result at the end of it for these victims because they deserve it over everything.”
Sara’s advice on top of guidance from Citizens Advice: Ask friends and family; people are quick to tell you when they have had a good or a bad experience. Use a reputable dealer with a physical site so you can see what you are buying from the outset. Take your time and if something feels off, walk away. If you have cover with the likes of the AA or RAC, they will come out and do vehicle checks, and also get a HPI check done to see if vehicles have been involved in accidents or if there is an issue with the mileage.
Builder Ian North from Birchington is looking forward to taking delivery of a brand new van in March this year.
The treat is long overdue after a mixed experience with second hand models. And there is one that sticks in the memory more than the rest.
A 63 plate Ford Transit high top 350 medium wheelbase.
Ordinarily doing 40,000-50,000 miles a year and with a lot of work in Surrey at the time, the mileage was rapidly adding up on his old van and he started looking around online for one with lower mileage.
During a scroll through eBay he spotted one in January 2017, and handily it was just 10 miles down the road in Sandwich.
Ian said: “I went to look at it and it seemed okay. The price was good. Not ridiculously cheap. Medium wheel based vans are hard to come by. I took it for a test drive and it drove really nicely. It was a tidy, respectable van for its age and its mileage. There were about 59,500 miles on the clock. It meant I could go two or three years without worrying about another. I paid the £7,350. There were no red flags.”
And that continued to be the case. Until the day the engine went bang and he was sat at Cobham services on the M25 for eight hours waiting for AA recovery.
The group's handwritten internal sales record relating to Ian's van
Because enough time had passed between purchase and disaster - about two years - he put it down to bad luck and decided to get the engine rebuilt. It was seven weeks before it was back on the road and with parts, labour and a hire van to keep up with his building contracts, the ordeal cost £7,500.
After that he decided to keep it for a bit longer thinking there would be no further issues. He was wrong. Fifteen months later, the engine went again. By then he had had the call from Kent Trading Standards to say he was part of a growing group of unfortunate people who had bought from those in court on Friday.
Ian was done. He paid the £2,300 to get it fixed again and because he is someone who looks after his vehicles, it had retained enough value to break even on that garage bill. It went off to a retired golfer who wanted transport for his clubs and buggy with its true history after taking the call from Kent Trading Standards officer Sara Whiteley.
"I was completely taken for a fool and it was gut wrenching"
The van was picked up by the criminal group at British Car Auctions 10 days before Ian bought it and in that time was clocked and had its first MOT. The real mileage was 171,000.
Ian added: “It was devastating when it went bang on the motorway, but of course I didn’t know how many miles it had done. You do what you can to buy a reasonable vehicle to help your business, something sustainable that lasts. I’ve always looked after my vans. I was completely taken for a fool and it was gut wrenching.
“At the yard they had seven or eight vehicles for sale and parts. They explained they would also break vans. It was fair enough, a logical, justifiable business, they were trying to be a van specialist. There’s money in parts. Nothing jumped out at me.
“Unfortunately now you have people who are exceptionally good at scamming. Wherever you go. I felt like an absolute idiot to be taken for a ride and the wool pulled over my eyes.
“My advice is to go to a legitimate garage. It’s cheaper in the long run.”
Further information
To read more about the case, visit: Kent Trading Standards call time on vehicle clocking criminals - News & Features - Kent County Council
