View recent press releases, speeches, and news items published by month.
02/06 5 January 2006
Second-hand car dealer Christopher Fulke-Greville has been sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and was ordered to pay the OFT's cost by Guildford County Court, following contempt of court proceedings brought by the OFT.
Action was brought against Mr Fulke-Greville, who also uses aliases including Chris Peters and Andrew Kennart, after he breached a Court Order, granted in March 2000, preventing him from committing offences against the Trade Descriptions Act and breaching the Sale of Goods Act. The court order prevented him from:
Despite the Court Order, Surrey Trading Standards continued to receive complaints about Mr Fulke-Greville which showed that he was engaging in activities prohibited by the Order. These complaints led the OFT, working closely with Trading Standards, to bring action against him for contempt of court.
Christine Wade, Director of Consumer Regulation Enforcement at OFT, said:
'This trader has defied the court by persistently denying customers their rights by selling poor quality and unroadworthy cars. The OFT will not hesitate to ensure that firm action is taken against rogue traders who act to harm the interests of consumers.'
NOTES
1. Mr Fulke-Greville gave assurances under Part III the Fair Trading Act 1973, on 21 June 1995, to refrain from breaching the Trade Descriptions Act 1968, Sale of Goods Act 1979, failing to carry out repairs in a reasonable time or at all and using towards customers threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour whereby those persons are likely to believe that violence will be used. Surrey Trading Standards continued to receive complaints about him indicating that these assurances were being breached. A Court Order was granted against Mr Fulke-Greville by Guildford County Court on 27 March 2000. In April 2004 evidence was received that he was again carrying out prohibited activities. The OFT issued Mr Fulke-Greville with a warning letter reminding him of his obligations under the Court Order in October 2004. In January 2005 four more complaints were received by the OFT from Surrey Trading Standards which showed he was still breaching his Court Order leading the OFT to start proceedings for contempt of court.
2. Part III of the Fair Trading Act 1973, which has been repealed and replaced by the Enterprise Act 2002, provided that, where it appeared that a trader had persisted in a course of conduct detrimental to the interests of consumers and had broken his/her obligations under civil or criminal law, the OFT could ultimately bring court proceedings for an Order.
3. Trading Standards Authorities enforce the Trade Descriptions Act 1968. Under the Act, it is a criminal offence for a trader to make false statements about goods offered for sale. Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 goods must be of satisfactory quality, fit for their purpose, and as described.
Back to: Press releases
08457 22 44 99
Kasia Reardon
020 7211 8901
kasia.reardon@
oft.gsi.gov.uk
Adrian Ient
020 7211 8899
adrian.ient@
oft.gsi.gov.uk
Frank Shepherd
020 7211 8133
frank.shepherd@
oft.gsi.gov.uk
Pritie Billimoria
020 7211 8708
pritie.billimoria@
oft.gsi.gov.uk
out of hours mobile
(media only)
077 7413 4814
This feature requires Javascript and Cookies to be enabled on your browser
Register for email alerts or amend your existing account details here.