A BUILDER who knowingly sold a "clocked" car to a garage ended up in court, thanks to a taxi driver's eagle eyes.

Matt Boxall, of York trading standards, told the city's magistrates that cabman David Daniels spotted the W-reg Citroen Xantia Estate on the forecourt of Monk Bar Garage in Lord Mayor's Walk, York, with an apparent mileage of 79,049.

But he knew that could not be right - as he had driven it professionally when it had 165,000 miles on the clock.

A trading standards investigation revealed that the car's mileage reading had shrunk after it had been sold to Stuart James Williams, who later sold it to Stephen Ward of Monk Bar Garage for £1,200 plus a Peugeot.

"Had it not been for the taxi driver witness and the action of the trading standards department, it is highly likely that the car would have been sold to an unsuspecting customer," said Mr Boxall.

Monk Bar Garage was asking £3,495 for the Citroen.

Williams, a builder of Lang Avenue, Tang Hall, York, admitted an offence under false trades description legislation, and was fined £600 plus £1,000 prosecution costs.

He told the magistrates: "It was just a mistake at the time. It was my fault. It is a mistake I made."

Mr Boxall said Mark Sorrell, of Heworth Road Motors, bought the car within the trade for Williams, who was looking for a vehicle of that sort.

When he got it, it had 165,000 plus miles on the odometer.

He told Williams that it had a "high mileage" and delivered it to the customer's driveway.

But when Williams tried to drive it, the battery was flat and the car was returned to Mr Sorrell's garage, where it remained for two or three weeks.

During that time, Mr Sorrell replaced the speedometer and odometer because of a problem with the rev counter. The new odometer showed the 79,000 mileage.

When Williams sold the car to Mr Ward he said the false mileage was correct.

Williams had since bought the car back from Mr Ward and his brother was now driving it.

The builder told trading standards officers he sold cars as a hobby. He had made five sales in the last year.

Updated: 10:02 Tuesday, April 04, 2006