Lowloader, speak to Mark Dawson at Lancashire Trading Standards I don't have a telephone number but his email address is [email protected] my case reference number is 655516 its been going on since last April he is dealing with Andy Long and from dealing with him he is keen to put a stop to him trading He returned all the mail I sent him as he refused to sign for it, how does this work with court claim forms?

I know what he looks like he is a short guy with close cut brown hair or he was in April 2012, he sells the cars and then pretends he isn't the owner when you go back. It is definitely him though the guy at trading standards confirmed it. Have the rest of you that have been conned gone to watchdog with this?

Trading standards are in the process of taking this guy to court im not sure on the rules over him changing his business name etc but I have given a statement for the case against him so it is happening. It won't help me get my money back but hopefully something can be done about him conning people in future its so infuriating that last May TS had a long list of people he has conned and still he is allowed to carry on trading

I have tried to respond to your pm regarding this guy but I haven't made enough posts or something, I got ripped off by him last April and trading standards are in the process of taking him to court. I have given a signed statement for the case against him and the list of conned people was v.long, contact Mark Dawson at Lancashire Trading Standards he is dealing with this guy I don't have a telephone number but my case number is ****** that might help them find him. His email address is [email protected] good luck Lisa

Just for further information Lancashire Trading Standards are taking him to court they have been to visit me and take a statement it doesn't really help me but it will hopefully stop other people getting ripped off by him. If you haven't already contacted CAB then you should as it will add to the case against him. Lisa

Yes I am thanks for all your help and apologies for the strop on my previous post

I would be happy to get the cost of the repairs back. I had absolutely no choice but to get the car repaired I was getting nowhere with either the dealer or trading standards and I live in a village in the middle of nowhere my husband couldn't get to work and I couldn't get my kids to school. I refused to accept the car the day after I bought it, I tried to return it but didn't feel safe driving it so he was going to collect and he didn't turn up and subsequently refused to take my calls. I don't have the means to get another vehicle so my only choice was to fix the scrapheap I have. The whole system is a joke I'm not surprised people like him just carry on making money by ripping people off as there is absolutely no help anywhere just write them a letter and if they ignore that write them another letter and if that fails write them a letter telling them you are taking them to court but you probably won't win so just don't bother wasting your time and accept you have been robbed

Thanks Sam I will have a look at your link now. My complaint is that I thought I was buying a car with 76,000 miles, 12 months MOT and in good working order. I traded in my admittedly older car which from what I can estimate had actually done less miles than the one I bought. The car I bought turned out to have at least 87,600 miles on and only 8 weeks MOT. The dealer stapled the documents together so that I couldn't see the mileage or date on the MOT certificate and simply wrote MOT'd on the receipt. The car also had a bald front tyre and the clutch has had to be replaced. He did originally offer to come and collect the car but hasn't, he then offered me £200 towards the clutch which never appeared. He will not accept my calls and is insistent that he is not the owner even though Trading Standards have since discovered he is the owner. So far the car has cost me nearly £600 to replace the clutch, bald tyre, having days off work to go over to the garage as he won't answer calls and an MOT I shouldn't have had to pay (which amazingly it passed) The most frustrating part of this is I know of 2 other people who have bought cars from him since and have had problems with them and he has treated them exactly the same as he did me. Trading Standards have this information yet he is allowed to carry on conning people.

The last letter I sent was dated May 1st. I have not contacted him by post since then as he had refused to sign for both letters, which I have proof of. The letter said that I had given him every available opportunity to resolve the situation and included copies of all the evidence to support my arguement. Its a bit irrelevant though as he has never actually seen any of my correspondence. I have been speaking to West Yorkshire Trading Standards ref 655516 the number is 0113 393 9868, it is however Lancashire Trading Standards investigating him. Having spoken to them yesterday I can attempt to take him through small claims but wasn't sure where I stand on him refusing to accept mail how will he even know that I have issued proceedings? I think my issue with trading standards is that he has been reported 3 times that I know of by seperate individuals and yet is still allowed to continue trading and conning other people who then will have to go through all this when it could be avoided just by shutting him down

He is most definitely still trading, I have spoken to trading standards on a number of occasions and all they have advised is that the owner's name is Andrew Long and I will have to take him through small claims and hope that the court rule in my favour. I am presuming they are investigating him further but aren't willing to help me. I am going to start proceedings against him personally today when I have calculated all the expenses I have had so far. Thanks for all your help so far!

Who would be able to look at that to try and find the correct mileage? Trading standards have basically told me I'm on my own this morning which is helpful as I can't even take him through small claims. He wrote the old trading name on my receipt of his company that had already closed down so as far as the courts are concerned that company is no longer trading

Sorry I hadn't had any notifications of new messages until now. No absolutely nothing, not even the £200 he offered to pay for the clutch repair. I found that "the boss" was never available even when I drove over there. The boss is Andy Long he will deny this until he is blue in the face I wouldn't waste my time with him to be honest. Just out of interest are they trading as Heys Lane Car Sales or something else now? It has been passed on to trading standards and they are looking into it, it has been about 3 weeks since I heard anything from them at all. To the person that asked regarding the clocking of the car, it was the fact that the MOT certificate stating 83700 miles had been deliberately covered with a staple so that I couldn't read it until I took the documents apart and that my car had done 90600 miles when I sold it to him and he was selling it stating 83000 miles. Surely this is proof that he is altering mileage?

I have spoken to someone at the garage tonight, Andy is pretending to be the manager of the site not the owner although one of the employees told me that it was him I actually spoke to yesterday morning when he was pretending not to be the owner. He has told me that Andrew Smith (who I think is imaginary) has sold the business and will be taken over next week, this Andrew Smith owns 5 garages and has sold them all this week he is moving abroad by the end of the week so I either take the £200 that he is offering or get nothing as there will be nobody for me to take to court. His actual words were "take who to court there is no-one to claim from and you won't win" He is adamantly denying clocking cars and couldn't offer an explanation as to why their were such discrepancies nor would he give me the contact details or names of the other garages for the elusive Andrew Smith as it wasn't right to give his details out to customers.

Yes it has been posted by special delivery this afternoon I will let you know the outcome thanks for all your help

No I tried to speak to her but he said he could deal with it. My car is the red ford focus he is selling at £595 it states the mileage is 83,000 when it was actually 90,600 and the engine size is 1.8 not 1.6 as he is advertising

Thanks a lot I really appreciate it, I can't reply to your pm but I have contacted them again. The name was Lancashire Diesel Centre, Heys Lane, Great Harwood he changed the name of the business 3 weeks ago to Heys Lane Car Sales at the same address. The car is a 2004 Ford Focus and I paid £1695. Citizens advice are passing the further info on to trading standards and hopefully this might get me somewhere Lisa

I am in West Yorkshire he is in Lancashire there is an office number for lancashire trading standards but it diverts to consumer direct and the other number won't speak to me about consumer complaints. I thought they would be more interested to be honest seeing as my part exchanged car is still on his forecourt as evidence that he is doing this if they drag it out much longer he will have sold it on

It didn't say it anywhere on the car until he gave me the receipt where he had written mileage not warranted, although he had intentionally covered up the mileage so he knew it was incorrect. All of the telephone numbers on the trading standards website direct me to the citizens advice number even the local office has the consumer direct number as a contact

I have just paid for a hpi check which came back clear and not showing any discrepancies which when I rang to query this she said it's because they haven't been told of any mileage for the car and without a manual check with VOSA which I could've done for free, they have now recorded the mileage discrepancy. I rang citizens advice again this morning they have said that trading standards won't contact me as they have given a non-commitment to contact so basically I have to sort it out myself. I am sending a recorded delivery letter today to his new business name as advised by citizens advice, the car hasn't been driven as it's not roadworthy. It seems that the official route is on the side of the conman rather than the consumer

Apologies have made it easier to read now I was rushing to post it before I went to bed in the hope of getting answers quicker. Lisa

I have already reported him via citizens advice as I can't contact trading standards directly, they said trading standards had responded with a no commitment to contact meaning they don't need to speak to me to pursue the issue but I wanted them to help me get my money back. I will ring citizens advice again this morning as I only discovered he has already changed his trading name last night. He sold me the car under a name that had ceased trading 3 weeks ago

I have bought a used car from a 2nd hand car dealer 30 miles from my house, it was advertised on Auto Trader on Thursday 19th April, I rather stupidly didn't take anyone with me and trusted that he was honest. The next morning I took the car to my local garage who told me that the the clutch needed replacing, the exhaust was starting to go and the front tyre was bald - I realise I should've noticed this at the time. I rang the dealer who told me that the boss wasn't in and someone would call me back, they didn't. Later that day I discovered he had put a staple through the MOT certificate where it showed the mileage, I had bought the car thinking that it had done 76,000 miles the MOT certificate actually stated 87600 last June. I sent him a letter the same day by recorded delivery stating the issues with the car and that I wanted a full refund and return of my part exchanged vehicle he refused to sign for the letter. Since then he told me I would get a refund and someone would collect the car on Mon 23rd, nobody came and he will not answer any of his phone numbers to me. I have given him 7 days as advised by citizens advice to rectify the situation and today decided to drive over, the boss was again nowhere to be seen although I am fairly sure he is the boss and he told me he would ring me back today. I have since discovered from a previous employee that he ceased trading as the company I bought the car from 3 weeks ago and is now trading as something else although he wrote the old company name on my receipt. He has also advertised my part exchanged car on Auto Trader with a mileage of 7600 less than I sold it to him with so he is clearly the one clocking the cars. He has offered to pay £200 towards the replacement of the clutch and a new tyre my question is should I take this as an expensive lesson or refuse the amount offered and hope that trading standards will help me? Thanks