Director of Ilford car dealer jailed for one year after knowingly selling unsafe vehicles

A car salesman has been sentenced to one year in prison after knowingly selling two unsafe vehicles.

Imran Kayani, of Longwood Gardens, Clayhall, was found guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court last week after a four-day trial.

The 34-year-old is the director of Essex and East London Cars, based in Ley Street, Ilford.

The court heard how Trading Standards had received two complaints from customers who had purchased cars from the company.

The customers believed they had been sold unsafe cars and had also not been told that they had been involved in serious accidents.

The faults were only discovered when recovery drivers looked at the cars after they had broken down.

Trading Standards then had them examined and it was found they had been involved in serious accidents and poorly repaired.

The first car was discovered to have a bent frame and poor quality welding meant the vehicle would have little protection in the case of a full frontal accident.

Any impact on the side could have led to the front of the car being sheared off.

The second car’s handling was erratic and its tyres were severely worn away due to misalignment.

The tyres also rubbed on the body of the car when the steering wheel was in full lock.

Kayani was also charged with failing to disclose that both vehicles had been subject to major accident damage, contrary to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

This was factored into his sentence.

Kayani failed to make a declaration that one of the cars had been in a serious accident and in the case of the other, he said the vehicle had been a category C insurance total loss but misrepresented that this had been caused by a light scrape to one side.

The salesman was given six months for both offences and the sentences will run consecutively.