A Poole mechanic has been jailed after scamming customers across the country by taking payments for car repairs and failing to deliver the promised work or parts.
Mark Douglas Lowe, aged forty-seven, appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court and was sentenced to two years and three months in prison for two counts of fraud by false representation, with six further offences taken into consideration.
Lowe operated under several business names, including Dorset and South West Mobile Mechanics Ltd, South Coast Mobile Mechanics Ltd and Mobile Auto Electricians Ltd, and repeatedly asked for upfront payments before disappearing without completing the work.
Victims from Dorset and other counties paid Lowe for repairs or parts that were never supplied, with more than twenty people affected and the total value of offences estimated at around twenty-two thousand pounds.
Dorset Council’s Trading Standards team also prosecuted Lowe for seven offences, including fraudulent trading and aggressively pursuing a customer.
Lowe has been banned from advertising or offering mechanic services for five years and disqualified from being a company director for the same period.
The court imposed these restrictions following evidence gathered by Trading Standards and Dorset Police.
