It follows a Staffordshire Trading Standards investigation
North Staffordshire Justice Centre
A second-hand car trader has admitted more than 40 offences after customers were misled into buying vehicles – including two later found to be dangerous and unroadworthy. Some customers were refused refunds following sales – and another was grabbed by a staff member “who tried to mishandle him into a wooden shed”, magistrates at North Staffordshire Justice Centre heard.
Sheeth Adam pleaded guilty to 41 charges, including the company Premium Car Sales (Burton) Limited carrying out business for a fraudulent purpose. This included advertising vehicles in an untrue and misleading manner on vehicle sales platform Auto Trader.
Lucy Daniels, prosecuting on behalf of Staffordshire County Council, told magistrates that Staffordshire Trading Standards had received numerous complaints about the Burton-based business. The charges related to 16 complaints made between August 2 2024 and March 27 2025 and the company operated under other trading names too, including Elite Car Sales and Castle Car Sales.
She said: “The company came to the attention of Staffordshire Trading Standards in August 2024 when it received a complaint about the sale of a Ford at Elite Car Sales. Trading Standards received more complaints about used cars and these followed a pattern.
“First there was false and misleading information placed on Auto Trader – the wording was virtually identical. These ads would claim vehicles were well-maintained, clean cars that ticked all the boxes, which implied to the person viewing the ad they were in good condition and having valid MOTs.
“They were generally older cars, 10-15 years old, and seemed to be at the end of usable life. They were sold for between £950 and £2,500.
“Customers would call the business, having seen the ad, and some bought vehicles remotely, which would seem to be OK on a test drive. On the journey home, customers started to experience issues such as dashboard warnings, and some customers broke down on the way home.
“Some customers found MOTs were not valid. Customers were not told of consumer rights when things went wrong, some had calls blocked and requests for refunds would be refused.
“Further customers experienced aggressive behaviour when they said their car wasn’t working; one disabled man was grabbed by one of the people working at the business, who tried to mishandle him into a small wooden shed. Another customer was told over the phone ‘I won’t give you s***, carry on and I’ll rape your mum’.”
The court was told that two complaints related to dangerous vehicles. One, a Dacia Sandero bought by a customer in South Wales, was later found to have a long-term oil leak and contaminated brake fluid and was deemed unroadworthy following an independent examination.
A Hyundai 130 was described in an advertisement as well-maintained and with a full MOT. But an MOT advisory relating to corrosion was not disclosed and the vehicle was later found to be unroadworthy.
The total purchase price of the vehicles involved was more than £26,000, the court was told.
Ms Daniels added: “These aren’t people who had a lot of money – they were looking for a car they could use to get to work or ferry children around. The defendant attended an interview under caution in January 2025. He provided a prepared statement and did state during interview he accepted there had been problems – he would be working to refund customers. Trading Standards want the complaints about this business to stop. They don’t want any other customers to experience what the current customers have experienced in this case.”
Magistrates heard that Adam, 40, , of Rykneld Road, Derby, had no previous convictions.
Richard Bloomfield, defending, said: “This is a man of previous good character. For much of this time, he was allowing other people to run the business during a period he was out of the country. On six different occasions, he was in hospital for part of it. The motivation of others, ensuring these sales go through, was they were getting commission off sales. He is committed to making sure everyone is paid. He is in the process of establishing new business, operating in other higher value vehicles.”
Magistrates committed the majority of the charges to Stafford Crown Court for sentencing at a later date. For the three charges that were able to be dealt with by magistrates, Adam was fined £690 and ordered to pay £966 in total, including victim surcharge.
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