Three brothers who ran a Birmingham-based car parts firm were given community orders and told to pay £15,963 in costs and compensation for misleading customers who ordered items from their company at Birmingham Crown Court today (3 July 2017).
French Car Spares Ltd traded from Port Hope Industrial Estate, Port Hope Road, Birmingham. The three directors – Mohammed Amar Hussain (26), Safraz Hussain (26) and Sherbaz Hussain (21), all of Chestnut Road, Birmingham – were given a 12 month community order, 200 hours unpaid work and ordered to pay £4,500 costs each.
The directors were also ordered to pay total compensation of £2,463 to the victims, and they were all disqualified from acting as directors for three years. All three defendants had pleaded guilty to two offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (2008) at an earlier hearing (16 May 2017).
Birmingham City Council brought the prosecution following complaints received by Trading Standards and Action Fraud in 2016 from numerous consumers who either never got the parts they ordered or in some cases received the wrong parts.
French Car Spares Ltd would contact consumers searching online for particular car parts, offering to supply what they were looking for, telling them the part was in stock and promising prompt delivery.
The company often asked customers to pay by direct bank transfer to individual personal accounts rather than accept normal payment method to the company.
However many consumers were let down as the promised parts they ordered never arrived, and when they complained there was no resolution and no refunds given for failing to deliver those parts.
