Fraudster ‘clocked’ mileage from vans (From York Press)

Fraudster Albert Buck ‘clocked’ mileage from vans

8:44am Wednesday 9th November 2011 in News

A FRAUDSTER from York who conned thousands of pounds from car buyers by fixing mileage readings has been jailed for two years.

Albert Buck, 40, of Stephensons Close, Huntington, admitted reducing the readings of six vans and selling them to unsuspecting customers.

City of York Council’s trading standards department received a complaint last July from a builder who paid Buck £8,500 for a VW Transporter that showed a mileage of 62,000 miles. He later found the vehicle had travelled 84,000 miles more than that.

Trading standards officers investigated other sales Buck had made and found five more Volkswagen vans had “lost” 48,000 to 115,000 miles each after coming into Buck’s possession, York Crown Court heard.

Buck, who was trading as AB Commercials Ltd, had sold the vans for more than £46,000 in total. All the victims said that they would not have bought the vans had they known the true mileage.

Police and trading standards officers raided Buck’s home last November and discovered documents revealing the true mileages of the sold vehicles.

Buck was arrested and questioned but continued offending – one of the charges related to a van sold to a customer in February this year having “lost” 72,000 miles. Buck, who is currently serving a 27-month prison sentence for the cultivation of cannabis, will now face confiscation proceedings to recover the money he has made from his crimes.