Fraudsters who removed the equivalent of 4 round trips to the moon in mileage from vehicle odometers have been sentenced following a serious investigation by Kent Trading Standards.
Ryan Regan (34) and Thomas Hamilton (34), each of Broadstairs, together with Darren Cradduck (59) of Chartham, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud on January 24 at Canterbury Crown Court.
Judge Edmund Fowler handed Regan and Hamilton two-year prison terms, suspended for 2 years, while Cradduck was sentenced to 21 months, also suspended for 2 years. Each was ordered to finish 200 hours of community service. The court also awarded £32,500 in compensation, with further payments to be decided.
Fraudsters who removed the equivalent of 4 round trips to the moon in mileage from vehicle odometers have been sentenced following a serious investigation by Kent Trading Standards.
Ryan Regan (34) and Thomas Hamilton (34), each of Broadstairs, together with Darren Cradduck (59) of Chartham, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud on January 24 at Canterbury Crown Court.
Judge Edmund Fowler handed Regan and Hamilton two-year prison terms, suspended for 2 years, while Cradduck was sentenced to 21 months, also suspended for 2 years. Each was ordered to finish 200 hours of community service. The court also awarded £32,500 in compensation, with further payments to be decided.
Between February 2016 and November 2018, the group orchestrated a classy vehicle “clocking” operation, rolling back over two million miles on the odometers of 23 high-mileage vehicles purchased at auction. These vehicles were sold online to 22 unsuspecting buyers across the UK. The most important single rollback involved 163,000 miles. Lots of the tampered vehicles broke down soon after purchase.
The case began in 2018 when a van purchased for a medically retired army veteran broke down on its way home. The owner was later threatened with violence when he called the vendor.
One in every of the group’s internal sales records. This vehicle had 111,482 miles removed. Daz is Darren Cradduck
Kent Trading Standards launched Operation Blackboard, supported by the National Trading Standards (NTS) Tri Region Investigation Team. Investigators discovered over 20 trading aliases linked to the group, together with fake logbooks, MOT certificates, and “ringing” kits used to change vehicle identities.
A raid at a premises in Sandwich uncovered detailed sales records, equipment for mileage alteration, and CCTV footage implicating the three men.
Kent Police’s vehicle examinations unit also retrieved electronic data proving the odometer readings had been manipulated.
Phone, email and bank accounts were all interrogated. In addition to the industrial operation, it became evident that Cradduck was repeatedly receiving requests from people wanting to clock their lease vehicles back to the mileage range where they might not be financially penalised for £50 a time.
His own BMW had illegal tech called a ‘cam blocker’ fitted, which stops mileage being added.
In total, the team gathered and cross-referenced information referring to greater than 200 vehicles handled by the group. Auto Trader and eBay assisted with the investigation. The case file runs into a whole bunch of hundreds of documents and took a whole bunch of hours of labor.
The three men initially refused to make any comment in police interviews, but by Christmas 2024, all had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud.
Kent County Council’s Clair Bell, said: “This group allowed dangerous vehicles to be sold to unsuspecting buyers, lots of whom faced significant financial and emotional strain. Their actions also undermine trust within the used automobile market. This final result is a major victory against organized crime and a warning to others engaged in fraudulent trading.”
Ian Wright, operations manager for the NTS Tri Region Investigation Team, added: “Clocking vehicles is a dangerous and illegal practice. Today’s result demonstrates the importance of vigilance in tackling fraud.”
One victim, Raghu Malhotra of Sittingbourne, purchased a Volkswagen Golf with 44,000 miles on the clock – 102,000 miles lower than its true reading. He paid nearly £10,000, significantly greater than its actual value.
He said: “I purchased the automobile with the mileage that was on the clock assuming it was correct. I didn’t do as many checks as I could have, but it surely gave the impression of a superb deal, so I purchased it. I then thought since it did not have a service history that there was a possibility it may need been clocked and I actually rang up the fundamental dealer and discovered the mileages on the service intervals. Obviously they were rather a lot higher than on the automobile.”
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