Birmingham family jailed for four million-mile car 'clocking'

"Clocking" is winding back the recorded mileage - often to push up the price

Four members of a Birmingham family have been jailed for "clocking" four million miles off vehicle odometers in what was described in court as "a professional operation".

Waseem Hussain, 27, Nadeem Hussain, 29, and father Abid Hussain, 54, all of Mary Road in Stechford, and Shahid Mahmood, 44, of Heather Road, Small Heath, were convicted of fraud.

The terms ranged from 18 to 61 months.

The case was brought after "numerous" complaints to Birmingham City Council.

Barbara Dring from the council said she believed it to be the biggest investigation into car clocking Birmingham trading standards had carried out.

"The distance dishonestly taken off the cars sold by this family is almost 10 times the distance to the moon and back.

"Not only is the mileage wrong but it is misrepresented, and as such could also have major mechanical problems that could put passengers' safety at risk".

Jail sentences:

• Abid Hussain: 61 months

• Nadeem Hussain: 56 months

• Waseem Hussain: 18 months

• Shahid Mahmood: 18 months

The four were caught after trading standards officers monitored the Auto Trader car sales website, and discovered the family used several business names to sell seemingly low mileage cars.

Investigators arranged to buy a used Audi A8 advertised as having 125,000 miles on the clock - but checks revealed it had done more than 250,000 miles.