Garages accused of fiddling mileages

Two garage owners are accused of fiddling car mileages. Mark Bettis, boss of Bearwood Garage, Bearwood Road, Smethwick, and Arnold Clark Automobiles Ltd, New Swan Lane, West Bromwich, are accused of tricking customers.

They were said to have deleted up to 50,000 miles from the odometers.

The garage owners appeared before magistrates in West Bromwich yesterday. Bettis, of Chadwick Grange, Bromsgrove faces two charges of claiming a Citroen Dispatch car, which had 133,000 miles on the clock only had 80,000, and another charge of misleading the customer to which he was selling the car.

His case was adjourned for a week while he sought legal advice.

No-one from Arnold Clark Automobiles, which has its HQ in Glasgow, appeared in court but the firm pleaded not guilty through its solicitor to engaging in unfair commercial practice by claiming a Renault Grand Scenic car with 49,558 miles on the clock had gone 7,000 miles.

That case was also adjourned for a week so a trial date could be set.

They were both due to appear before magistrates next Monday.

According to its website Arnold Clark Automobiles is Europe's largest privately owned car dealer, selling more than 200,000 vehicles a year and generating an annual turnover of over £1.5 billion.

It has dealerships all over the Midlands including in Oldbury, West Bromwich, Stourbridge and Stafford.

The company was founded more than 54 years ago by Sir Arnold Clark, and has expanded from a single car showroom in Glasgow, to now employing more than 8,000 people. As well as car sales it offers servicing and repairs and MoTs.