Netherton rogue car dealer who sold same 'death trap' car twice avoids jail

Stephen Hickman, trading from Halesowen Road, Netherton, was first convicted of selling an unroadworthy Subaru Forester in March 2022 and was ordered to fully refund the consumer £3,500.

After the conviction, Hickman, who changed the name of his business from Netherton Car Sales to Shelby’s of Netherton, had the car returned to him.

The 63-year-old car dealer said he did some repairs on the car, painted the underneath in a black bitumen 'to prevent further corrosion' and proceeded to sell the same car in April 2022 for £800 more.

The day after purchasing the car, which had been described in the advert as having 'no nasty surprises on the inside and drives very well', the car broke down when a severely corroded control bar underneath it failed.

Dudley Trading Standards investigated the matter for a second time and took advice from a vehicle expert who reported that the vehicle was this time, not only unroadworthy but also dangerous.

The expert said the car had extremely severe corrosion that had reached such an advanced level that he considered a collapse of the suspension to be highly probable. They further reported that some of the faults highlighted in the first case had received no remedial action before the resale of the car.

Hickman, from Seymour Road, Lye, entered guilty pleas at Dudley Magistrates Court for offences under the Road Traffic Act, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the General Product Safety Regulations in relation to the advertising and selling of the dangerous car.

Hearing the case, District Judge Wilkinson stated that Hickman was 'willing to sell a death trap' and sentencing was referred to Wolverhampton Crown Court due to the seriousness of the matter.

In dealing with the sentencing at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Hickman, who has again changed the name of his business, was given a 13-month prison sentence suspended for two years. He was also ordered to undertake 200 hours unpaid work.

Compensation of £5,258 was awarded to the consumer and £2,500 was ordered to be payable as a contribution towards costs.

Councillor James Clinton, Dudley Council's cabinet member responsible for Trading Standards, said: “This is a shocking case.

"Hickman had already been brought before the courts in relation to this car and was left under no illusions that the vehicle was unroadworthy.

“He should have scrapped it or repaired it properly, but instead he patched it up and sold it on again, this time for even more, while knowing it was, as the judge described it, a potential death trap.

“Car traders cannot sell unroadworthy, dangerous and misdescribed cars and profit from trading in this way.

“Dudley Trading Standards will not hesitate to investigate complaints where consumers have been misled or where they have been sold a dangerous vehicle.”