Firm fined £250,000 for car clocking offences

A HIGH-profile chauffeur company responsible for millions of miles of car clocking offences has been found guilty of fraud and fined £250,000.
The sentence follows a three-year investigation by Warrington and Halton Borough Councils – the biggest probe of its kind carried out by the teams.
It found that more than 100 vehicles had been clocked, with evidence of clocking dating from 2008 to 2014. The minimum amount of clocking believed to have taken place is 7.5 million miles.
PCS Events, of Runcorn, a private hire firm which transported first and business class airline passengers, was fined £250,000 and ordered to pay £48,906.47 costs, at Liverpool Crown Court.
PCS Events entered a plea of not guilty but did not send representation to the trial. It was scheduled to last for two weeks, but the jury reached the decision after only nine minutes that the company was guilty of conspiracy to defraud.
The investigation saw several senior staff from the company sentenced for conspiracy to commit fraud earlier this year. In April, owner John Murphy, 67, Conwy, was given three years in prison, with Paul Arslanian, 38, Conwy (two years and three months); Christopher Graham Lunt, 39, Long Lane, Chester (20 months); and Trevor Gareth Jones, 58, Colwyn Bay (15 months) also imprisoned. Simon Richard Williams, 49, Fluin Lane, Frodsham who carried out MOT testing of clocked vehicles, producing documents which showed incorrect mileage, was handed an 18 month prison sentence.
Warrington Borough Council’s lead member for public protection, Cllr Judith Guthrie (pictured), said: “This is a major success in our fight against fraud. The successful prosecution of first the individuals and, now, the company in this case is the result of years of hard work by trading standards, supported by Halton Borough Council’s legal team.
“This was an extremely complex investigation, with officers working diligently to uncover the fraudulent activity taking place and ensure those responsible were brought to justice.”
PCS Events Ltd operated a widespread system of clocking the cars in their possession. The company sought to profit from the offence through selling vehicles which had previously been on lease hire for chauffeuring purposes. Subsequent sale prices of vehicles sold by the company were inflated, based upon the incorrect mileage reading.Warrington and Halton trading standards began investigating in 2013 after receiving information of alleged fraudulent behaviour and consumer protection regulatory offences, relating to the turning back of mileages on vehicles obtained by the company.