Dealer who sold unsafe cars over internet is jailed

A DODGY car dealer who sold insurance write-offs on social media sites has been jailed for nine months.

Liam Arrigan, of Waun Road in Morriston, was caught following an investigation by Swansea council’s trading standards department.

A judge at Swansea Crown Court heard that in August 2016 a member of the public contacted the department after buying a vehicle from Arrigan for work.

It was unsafe and needed money spent on it to make it roadworthy.

Further checks by Trading Standards revealed other vehicles being sold by Arrigan were also unsafe, due to issues with their brakes and suspension.

The cars had also been involved in accidents which had not been declared when they were advertised on social media sites including Facebook and Gumtree.

Passing sentence, Judge Paul Thomas told Arrigan, aged 29: “Last August you tried to sell cars that were insurance write-offs and dangerous to be driven. Those vehicles presented a danger to consumers.

“This was a dishonest attempt to sell those cars to the public. Even on your account this was a reckless disregard for public safety. Indicative of your dishonesty, you pretended you had missed off the description of a vehicle being a write-off.”

David Picken, Swansea trading standards manager, said that the selling of cars using social media was on the increase, and he urged people to take time to ensure that they had done some sensible checks before agreeing to buy a vehicle. These checks should include asking if the seller was a trader or dealer and asking to see the history of the car.

Mr Picken added: “This sentence sends a clear message to people selling cars that they must do so in a responsible and organised manner.