A company director who supplied high-end cars to celebrities and sports professionals has been banned from doing business for five years, after he was prosecuted by Trading Standards.
Richard McMullen, whose business operated from Salford Quays, took thousands of pounds from customers for top of the range Mercedes-Benz cars but delivered neither the cars nor a refund.
And when customers complained, Mr McMullen claimed the salesman he had employed had “gone rogue” and lied to customers, before offering them significantly worse deals.
Richard McMullen, 37, of The Albany, Liverpool, appeared at Manchester Crown Court on Monday 9 November and was sentenced to 200 hours unpaid community service and ordered to pay £9,601 compensation to his victims within six months.
He was also disqualified from being a company director for the next five years.
He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two offences under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 relating to not having a licence to operate as a credit broker and 11 breaches of the Consumer Protection Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
Salford City Councils’ trading standards team started receiving complaints about a credit brokerage, VIP Auto Sales of NV Buildings, The Quays at the beginning of June 2013.
Customers complained they had paid deposits for vehicles under a hire purchase agreement but had not received either the cars or a refund.
When they complained to the company they were told the firm had taken on a salesman who had “gone rogue” and misrepresented deals to customers.
The customers were then offered deals on considerably less favourable terms so asked for a refund which the company initially agreed to but then failed to deliver.
Mr McMullen was interviewed under caution by trading standards officers in April 2014. He blamed the salesman he hired for misrepresenting deals to consumers, though he had not done any checks as required by consumer protection law.
During the interview Mr McMullen told officers: “When a guy is putting money in your account and your young business is growing… you’re going to stop asking questions after a while… it’s too good to be true.”
Mr McMullen also gave misleading information and failed to inform customers of their legal rights.
Mr McMullen said he did not realise he needed a licence and had not sought any legal advice about running the business.
He thought he owed customers around £6,000 or £7,000 and said he intended to refund all his customers.
However, he admitted he had not told them this and had not told them his new business address or that he had changed the name of his business and its Twitter account.
Speaking after the case Councillor Gena Merrett, Salford City Council’s executive lead member for housing and environment, said: “Mr McMullen simply should not have been in business. He failed to carry out any research before setting up the company and blithely ignored the law and his customers. As long as the money rolled in, he was happy, though his customers were not.
“This has been a long and complex case for our trading standards team but they have succeeded not only in winning compensation for the victims but also in having Mr McMullen banned from business for the next five years.
“It is an excellent result.”
