Mechanic pleads guilty to fraud after charging customers for work he didn’t do

Fraudster handed 12-month community, 200 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £1,370

Mechanic pleads guilty to fraud after charging customers for work he didn’t do
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A former mechanic who promised to carry out work which he never did has pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud, Derbyshire Live has reported.

Mark Bryant, of Derby, told one of his victims that he was going to change their starter motor after being paid for the job, but failed to do so.

Another victim was persuaded to go to Bryant for repairs but Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court heard that every time the car came back to the victim “more work was needed on it”.

When the owner of the car said he would not pay, Bryant threatened to take “£40 worth of items off the car”.

Bryant, who is now a van driver, was handed a 12-month community order which included 200 hours of unpaid work.

He also had to pay £100 to the first victim and £1,100 to the second victim, as well as costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £85 – taking his total to pay to £1,370.

Peter Bettany, prosecuting, said: “The nature of these cases sees the defendant claiming to be doing work, but not doing anything and then claiming he had done the work.

Facebook advice

“The first matter was on April 22 last year, his first victim stated her car wasn’t working properly and her partner asked for advice on Facebook.

“They were contacted by the defendant who said it was the simple matter of the starter motor.

“She purchased a new starter motor and got the defendant to fit it, paying him £40.

“Later, when the car didn’t work, she took it to a garage and they explained that it was the starter motor.

“She stated that she had recently had a new starter motor fitted, but after checking the serial number on her receipt with the starter motor in the car it showed that it had not been changed.

“It was agreed that there had been £60 spent on the starter motor and £40 on labour.

“On the other matter, the second victim needed repairs doing to his car.

“The defendant stated that he would do it for him from his mobile business.

“The victim found that every time the defendant did some work, more work was needed.

“He thought there was something wrong about it and refused to pay.

“The defendant said if he didn’t pay £40, he was going to come and take £40 of the car.

“About that time, he took it to a garage.

“They found that the defendant had sprayed parts of the car on the engine when he had no reason to.”

“The public put their trust into mechanics”

Addressing Bryant, the chair of the bench said: “Both of these matters are very serious offences.

“The public put their trust into mechanics, not just to do the job, but to do a job properly and not to deceive them.

“You deceived two people.

“You did this purely for financial gain.”

Mr Ibrahim, mitigating, said: “The public perception of trust towards mechanics is far more serious than the financial loss, although I don’t want to minimise the financial loss.

“He accepts it was wrong and wishes to apologise to both victims.

“Although he didn’t admit it in interview, it is still an early guilty plea and should get credit for that.”

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  • #171176 Reply

    A former mechanic who promised to carry out work which he never did has pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud.

    [See the full post at: Mechanic pleads guilty to fraud after charging customers for work he didn’t do]

    #171202 Reply
    Peter Miles
    Guest

    Disgusting behaviour! But of course to the “man in the street” it’ll just be that’s the motor trade again.

    #171212 Reply
    David cant
    Guest

    I’m afraid it’s this sort of thing by the few bad guys that get us all tarred with the same brush !!!!

    #216843 Reply
    Anna Fong Piang Koon
    Guest

    I have been the victim of a garage that overcharged me. I broke down took my car to an independent he found out that I was charged for nothing. No job was done on my car

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