A Bestwood man and his brother-in-law who were jailed for clocking cars by over one million miles have been ordered to pay back over £160,000 of their ill-gotten gains and will also be deported.
Marchin Kaminski, 27, of Pavior Road, Bestwood and brother-in-law Meti Zielinski, 23, of Sandon Street, Basford were imprisoned back in May for selling 13 cars with fake MOT certificates and service histories.
Zielinksi, a self-employed car dealer, and Kaminski, employed as a mechanic, tamked carsspered with 17 vehicles over an 18-month period between 2013 and 2015, cutting the mileage on 13 of them by around half and reducing the total by 1,159,743 miles.
The pair were sentenced to 15 months imprisonment and have now been ordered to pay a combined total of £161,286.14 under a Proceeds of Crime Act Confiscation Order.
They will also now be deported to Poland once they have completed their sentence, which was handed down at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday (July 23).
Cllr Nicola Heaton, Nottingham City Council’s Portfolio holder for Community Safety, said: “This crime required intense investigation by Trading Standards and the result will protect people across the country from the organised criminality committed within a family unit.
“Buying a car is large part of anyone’s budget and to find out that your new vehicle has a false mileage and fake documents and so is worth a lot less – and in a poorer state of repair than expected – must have been a shock and concern for many victims.
“Pursuing compensation for the victims involved in this investigation under the Proceeds of Crime Act may mean that some of the losses are repaid from the car dealers’ profits.”
Nottingham City Council’s Trading Standards warned that selling cars with false service histories could mean that the vehicles were sold in an unsafe condition and that buyers were unaware they might be at risk. They advise anyone buying a second hand car to make as many checks as possible to ensure that the vehicle is showing its true mileage.
The website https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history allows buyers to check the genuine mileage of any vehicle they are considering buying.
