A COWDENBEATH man has been jailed for 215 days for “clocking” the cars he was selling and making more than £18,000 in the scam.

Conman Joseph Lowther advertised cars for sale on Gumtree and vastly reduced the mileage readings to increase their value.

The vehicles he sold across the country were generally in a poor state of repair.

Lowther, 37, of Johnston Park, had been hiding in a cupboard when police tracked him down and he appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court for sentencing last week.

He previously admitted that between June 6 and October 20, 2014, he formed a fraudulent scheme and committed offences at Peterborough, Kilwinning, Cowdenbeath, Aberdeen, St Andrews and elsewhere.

On each occasion, he tampered with the mileage to show a lower figure.

He pretended that a Vauxhall Zafira he was selling had a lower recorded mileage than its true mileage, having altered it, and obtained £1,900 by fraud.

He committed the same offence with the sale of three Land Rover Freelanders, obtaining £3,000 by fraud each time, and conned another buyer out of £1,575 with a 'clocked' VW Fox.

A woman who bought a Mini Cooper was defrauded out of £3,000 and another driver out of £850 in the sale of a Toyota Celica.

Another victim of the clocking scam was a man conned out of £1,900 when he bought a Vauxhall Astra.

Depute fiscal Dev Kapadia told the court that a warrant had been issued for a search of Lowther's home.

"Police spoke to a male on the phone using the number provided on the advertisements for cars," he said.

"Police said they were at his address but he told them that he would not be able to return that day. Police entered the property and while searching a bedroom they found Lowther hiding in a cupboard.

"When officers attended Central Auctions in Glasgow, records showed he had purchased the vehicles and they had substantially high mileages. When he was interviewed by police he made no comment."

Defence solicitor Matthew Berlow said: "Customers have received full recompense because the payments were taken on a card reader.

"Mr Lowther has five children and his wife suffers from a medical condition.

"He does take issue at the reference to him being from the travelling community as he has lived in Cowdenbeath for a number of years.

"He also has a licence for a public house and has been the owner of the pub for a number of years.

"This has been described as an £18,000 fraud but he bought these cars and most customers have received some of the value because I understand most of them kept the vehicles.

"It's also a transparent fraud as he bought these cars in his own name and I suggest he could have never got away with these offences.

"His previous record is from a decade ago and he has tried to run a legitimate business. He will continue to do so and leave this lifestyle behind."

Sheriff Charles Macnair told Lowther: "During the latter part of 2014 you administered on a vast scale the clocking of vehicles. Your profit is an aspect but the complainants would not have bought the vehicles if they had known their true position and clocking is also a public safety issue.

"You are running another business at a public house but whatever I do today that licence is going to come to an end.

"You certainly wouldn't be found to be a fit and proper person to hold a licence.

"I have taken into consideration the health of your partner but you should have thought of that before."

Police Scotland welcomed the sentence and Detective Inspector Stewart Andrew said: “At face value Joseph Lowther presented himself as the friendly helpful salesman offering vehicles at extremely competitive rates.

“In reality he is a conman who put lives at risk by selling vehicles which were not roadworthy. His scheme not only affected customers who lost life-changing amounts of money but also had a detrimental effect on legitimate local businesses.

“Good partnership working between Police Scotland and Fife Council Trading Standards has led to Lowther receiving a prison sentence for his criminal activity. This case should be a lesson to all those who may be involved in this type of activity.”

Trading Standards service manager, Dawn Adamson, said: “Clocking with the intent to sell is a criminal activity.

“Unscrupulous car dealers can make big profits from buying cheap, high mileage vehicles then clocking them before reselling them.

“A clocked car will show a lower mileage than the vehicle has actually travelled but it will have the wear and tear of the high mileage vehicle that it truly is, which could lead to potentially unsafe vehicles being on the road.

“Not only will a buyer have paid over the odds for the car, but the vehicle may require expensive repairs.

“The buyer is also likely to lose out should they try to trade in a clocked car. Reputable car dealers are highly unlikely to accept a trade-in they believe to be clocked.

“Put simply, rogue traders who are involved in car clocking are only interested in taking people’s money and have a complete disregard for consumers’ statutory rights.”

She added: "A vehicle’s MOT history can be checked online by anyone. Just visit https://www.gov.uk/browse/driving/vehicle-tax-mot-insurance. 

"If anyone is concerned that the mileage may not be genuine on a vehicle they should contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 03454 040506 for advice."