Van dealer made £100,000 by ‘clocking’ used vehicles

A VEHICLE dealer who made in excess of £100,000 after wiping millions of miles off the clocks of more than 100 vans has had his sentencing delayed.

Maxwell Stuart Alvey, 50, was due to be sentenced yesterday at Nottingham Crown Court yesterday after admitting 10 counts of fraud at an earlier hearing.

But the judge, John Milmo QC, adjourned sentencing until 27 July for further reports.

Alvey, of Arnold, Nottinghamshire, bought the vans at auction and tampered with their mileage between August 2009 and June 2010 in a bid to increase their value, Nottinghamshire County Council said.

Trading Standards Officers from Nottinghamshire County Council estimate Alvey profited by in excess of £100,000 in just 10 months from buying the high-mileage vehicles at auction, clocking them and then selling them on to unsuspecting businesses.

Trading Standards officers launched their investigation after receiving a number of complaints that vehicles bought from Alvey’s company, Premier Van Centre, were showing an unusual amount of wear and tear for their mileage.

Officials cross-referenced the genuine mileage of the vehicles from auction house records with mileometer readings in the vans and Auto Trader adverts placed by Alvey.

Unsuspecting new owners of the vehicles were traced through sales invoices found at Queen Ann Manor in Lime Lane, Arnold, from where Alvey ran his operation.

Victims were spread throughout the country.

Trading Standards officers sifted through documents and sales records relating to 123 vehicles, 111 of which had already been sold.