Trader In Court For Falsely Describing Car

The car dealer Charles Hurst Ltd, trading as Charles Hurst Renault, Balloo Avenue, Bangor, was today fined £300 at Belfast Magistrates’ Court for selling a car that was six months older than described.

The prosecution was brought by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment’s Trading Standards Service. The company pleaded guilty to three charges under the Trade Descriptions Act 1968.

The case came to light after a customer bought an ex demonstrator Renault Clio from Charles Hurst Renault in Bangor, paying £7,700.

He was told the car had been registered as new in September 2005. When he collected the car, the salesman informed the customer that the vehicle registration certificate had been lost.

Several months later, the customer received a duplicate certificate and discovered that in fact the car was first registered in March 2005. 



Anthony Haughan, Trading Standards Service said: “We discovered the correct registration information had been available to the company, but due to an underlying flaw in the computer system, the wrong date was communicated to the customer. In a time when computer systems are relied upon for retrieval of information, it is very important that systems are regularly audited to ensure all details given to customers are accurate.”

Anyone who believes that a car, or any other goods or services purchased, have been misdescribed should contact Consumerline on 0845 600 6262.

(SB/SP)