Vehicle Clocking Scandal Leaves Victims Feeling ‘Mugged Off’
Victims who unknowingly purchased vehicles with tampered mileage are speaking out about their experiences, saying they feel “mugged off” by the fraudsters. Three men from Kent – Ryan Regan, Thomas Hamilton, and Darren Cradduck – received suspended sentences at Canterbury Crown Court for their roles in a vehicle clocking gang that wound back odometers by a total of 2,000,000 miles.
Shaun Thomas, a 61-year-old bricklayer from Hastings, bought a van from the group without realizing that nearly 100,000 miles had been removed from the odometer. “Everything seemed to be legit, but I got turned over. I feel a bit of a prat,” he said. Thomas believes he overpaid by £1,500 due to the van’s artificially low mileage.
The investigation, led by Kent Trading Standards, uncovered that the group bought 21 high-mileage vehicles at auction and reduced their mileage by an average of 90,500 miles each. The largest single mileage reduction was 163,000 miles. Evidence found during the investigation included fake logbooks, MOT certificates, and data from vehicle electronic control units that didn’t match the dashboard readings.
Raghu Malhotra, another victim, purchased a Volkswagen Golf with an odometer reading of 44,000 miles. He later discovered that the actual mileage was over 102,000 miles higher. Malhotra sold the car at a loss of £4,000 due to the discrepancy. “There’s a big financial loss, and a sense of ‘I should have known better really’,” he said.
Clive Phillips, Operations Manager at Kent Trading Standards, described the investigation as unprecedented in scale. “Two million miles is shocking, it’s serious offending, and that’s why we prosecuted. They were significantly reducing the mileage, leaving people out of pocket,” he explained.
The court heard that the fraud amounted to £80,000 based on the profit from the sale of the tampered vehicles. Regan and Hamilton received two-year suspended prison sentences, while Cradduck was given a 20-month sentence, also suspended. All three were ordered to pay compensation and perform 200 hours of unpaid work.
The investigation began in 2018 after a victim broke down on their way to North Yorkshire following the purchase of a tampered van. Kent Trading Standards found evidence of 22 victims and discovered that Cradduck had offered a “mileage correction” service to motorists looking to avoid lease penalties, charging £50 per vehicle.
Judge Edmund Fowler considered the “inordinate delay” in the case during sentencing. The prosecution highlighted that documents for 303 vehicles were seized, with 98 confirmed to have tampered odometers.
