Former Man Utd ace jailed for selling stolen car parts

One-time Manchester United star Ronnie Wallwork has been jailed for his part in an elaborate car buyer scam.

The 34-year-old was sentenced to 15 months in prison by Preston Crown Court after admitting three counts of handling stolen cars.

Wallwork's crimes were inadvertantly discovered by undercover officers as part of 'Operation Solomon' who were trying to track down a gang of armed robbers who had shot a security guard in Preston's Tesco supermarket!

While checking out local scrapyards, officers soon discovered Wallwork had his own, entirely separate, criminal enterprise in operation.
It emerged he had sold a Volkswagen Touran engine and parts from a BMW 318i on eBay, while he was observed driving a Mazda Furano into the scrapyard three days after it was stolen from a car dealer.
The three stolen vehicles he was linked to were worth more than 43,000 pounds in total, the court heard.
The court was told how the former West Bromwich Albion midfielder had fallen into financial difficulties following his retirement from football and two failed business ventures and police believe he got caught up in the criminal sub culture of Newton Heath.
Wallwork - who was lucky to escape with his life when he was stabbed in a Manchester bar five years ago - played enough games for Manchester United to earn a Premiership winners' medal in 2000-01.

SELL A CAR

Motoring costs continue to soar

New research from the RAC has shown that the cost of motoring has soared by 14% over the last year, meaning car buyers are paying an average of £128 per week to run a new family car.

All told, the cost of running a new car for the year was found to be £6,689 a year, which compares unfavourably with the figure of £5,870 only 12 months ago.

The hike in costs is made of a 12.4 per cent rise in fuel prices compared to last year, while the average maintenance costs increased by 8.8 per cent.

Average insurance premiums have risen 14.38 per cent, car finance is now costing 9.85% more, while depreciation (decreasing car valuation) was the factor to rise the most – 16.67 per cent.

The cost index was based on a pool of 17 new cars with the results weighted by their level of ownership. Even taking depreciation and car finance out of the calculations, the day-to-day running costs were up 11.1% to £2,743.

"This year’s cost index highlights the tough conditions being faced by Britain’s motorists,’ said RAC motoring strategist Adrian Tink. ‘With the annual cost of motoring approaching £7,000, the price burden of car ownership is hitting drivers hard.
The increase of almost three times the rate of inflation is crippling drivers’ wallets and something needs to be done to stem the tide."

Leading 'car-buying companies' branded rip-off merchants

An investigative piece of journalism from The Sun has seen the newspaper brand a number of Britain's best known car buying companies as rip-off merchants!

The detailed 'expose' involved The Sun getting an independent valuation on a wide-range of vehicles from motor industry experts Parkers, then comparing those figure with what the car buying companies could offer on each car.

Among the most shocking results was Trademymotor.co.uk's offer on a  Audi A4 Cabriolet which was more than £3,500 below the recommended value and a paltry offer from wewillbuyyourcar.com which fell over £3,000 less than the estimated private sale price for a modest Peugeot 207.

The Sun was also particularly critical of those companies which charge a 'transaction fee' (which they take out of the price they offer), including the well-known webuyanycar.com.

Health expert calls for political debate on car smoking

Just days after the British Medical Association recommended that smoking in cars should be made illegal, a leading Lancashire health expert has called for a political debate over the issue.

Officially, the professional medical association and trade union for doctors and medical students is calling for an outright ban on all smoking in vehicles across the UK, highlighting research which claims that the levels of toxins in a car can be up to 23 times higher than in a smoky bar.

However, Blackburn’s director of public health, Dominic Harrison, said a partial ban would be more appropriate.

He said: “The evidence around smoking with children in the car, even with the window open, is absolutely overwhelming as that is far too close to be smoking to a child.

“With children or passengers I think the issue is the same as smoking in an enclosed public space.

“I think we should test this with political debate and I would be quite interested to see what the public mood would be.

“I would suggest immediately no smoking in cars with a passenger and certainly not with children and I would make it a civil offence, similar to parking on a double yellow line, not a criminal one initially.”

A regular smoker  looking to sell a car can find the car valuation is often lower.

Women car buyers know what they want!

A new survey from BMW Financial Services has discovered that, when it comes to car buyers, it's women who know what they want!

 

The research showed that;

 

• 71% of women say they don’t choose a car to impress anyone but themselves and only two in ten take their partner’s opinion into account
• 69% of women aren’t afraid to haggle when buying a car

• 31% of women are happy to rent-to-own a car
• Over a third of women would like to be able to change cars or trade up more regularly

 

Women also have a different attitude to their male counterparts when it comes to car finance, with a third admitting to taking at least two days to make the choice over a payment package for the vehicle.

 

The survey also found that women, as a car buyer, are more open to making joint decisions for both the car itself  (50%) and car finance (53%), while men in particular, like to choose entirely independently.

 

The research also reveals that a third of British women drivers are happy to rent-to-own their car, which mirrors the recent uptake in car finance sales.

 

Joe Pattinson, General Manager Sales and Marketing at BMW Financial Services commented, “Finance is the car purchasing model for the future. As women adopt the rent-to-own approach as the more sensible decision, this is less of an indication of the economic climate and more a long term purchasing trend that is here to stay.

Former dealer jailed for "car clocking" scam

A one-time motor dealer - along with his three brothers - has been jailed for 18 months for "clocking" the mileage of cars and selling them on to car buyers.

The court was told that ringleader of the scam, Paul Price of Dewsbury, had traded honestly for many years but health problems and ensuing financial difficulties had led him up a path of "serious and deliberate fraud", alongside his three brothers Ian, Gary and Melvyn who were each given suspended 12 month jail sentences. A family friend, Gareth Hunt, was also handed a suspended sentence.

The four brothers were caught selling over 40 cars across West and North Yorkshire which had had the mileage readings in the vehicles reduced, in one case by more than 200,000 miles. The lower mileage readings helped artificially inflate the car valuation.

The sales took place online between January 2008 and August 2009 and in some instances bogus services documents were provided.

The activities of  the group originally came to light after concerns were reported to North Yorkshire Trading trading standards officers.

Sentencing them Judge Kerry Macgill said people who had saved up their “hard earned cash” to buy cars were entitled to believe the readings were honest.

Blackadder star cheats death forllowing 'super car' smash

Actor Rowan Atkinson has cheated death following a crash in his high-powered McLaren F1 supercar in Cambridgeshire.

The Blackadder and Mr Bean star is believed to have lost control of the £650,000 vehicle which spun off the road and hit a tree before catching fire.

The 56-year-old walked away from the wreckage and was looked after by another motorist until emergency services arrived at the scene.

Firemen tackled the blaze and an ambulance crew took him to nearby Peterborough hospital where he was treated for a shoulder injury.

A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said: "Crews brought the fire under control by 8.13pm. They made the vehicle safe and used one hose reel to put out the fire.

"There was one casualty but he was not trapped."

Atkinson is renowned for his passion for fast cars has written numerous articles about different vehicles for specialist car magazines.
As someone who regularly likes to buy and sell a car, his collection changes regularly, he also has a £125,000 Aston Martin Virage, a vintage Rolls-Royce, and an elderly Morris Traveller, which he regularly drives around the Oxfordshire village where he lives in a £1 million former rectory.