In February 2026 a second hand van trader stood in Oxford Crown Court and was sentenced for one of the oldest tricks in the book: mileage fraud. Grzegorz Seczkowski, 41, trading as GNA Car Sales Ltd in Abingdon, rolled back the odometers on six vans and pocketed around £20,000 in extra profit. The clever part, and the part every used van buyer needs to understand, was how he picked his stock.
This was not a bloke in a pub with a screwdriver. It was a planned operation built around a gap in the system, and it worked until Oxfordshire County Council's trading standards team caught up with him.
How the Mileage Fraud Worked
Seczkowski bought high-mileage ex-fleet and rental vans at auction. Fleet vans get hammered. Multiple drivers, heavy loads, motorway miles all day, every day. A three year old fleet van can easily carry the mileage of a six year old privately owned one.
He then wound the odometers back to sit just above the last figure in each van's service records, even though some had covered up to 22,000 miles more since that last service. With the dial matching the paperwork, the vans looked like genuine low-mileage examples with tidy, consistent service histories.
The vans went up for sale on AutoTrader and on his forecourt, priced as the low-mileage vans they were pretending to be. Six vans, roughly £20,000 in profit that should never have existed.
Oxfordshire County Council, 3 February 2026
The Loophole: No First MOT, No Central Mileage Record
Here is the detail that made the whole scheme possible. Every van he clocked was under three years old.
A vehicle in the UK does not need its first MOT until it turns three. MOT tests are where odometer readings get recorded centrally, building the mileage timeline that history checks rely on. Before that first test, there is no official record of the mileage at all.
So when Seczkowski rolled a dial back by 20,000 miles, there was nothing in the national record to contradict him. No earlier MOT reading sitting above the new figure. No discrepancy to flag. The only paper trail was the service history, and he deliberately set each odometer just above the last service entry so even that lined up.
It is the same blind spot we cover in our guide to spotting a clocked car: the MOT mileage trail is powerful, but it only starts at year three. Anything younger needs a different kind of scrutiny.
What the Court Handed Down
At Oxford Crown Court on 3 February 2026, Seczkowski was found guilty of fraudulent trading and possession of articles for use in fraud. The sentence:
- 18 months custody, suspended for two years
- £2,529 in compensation to his customers
- £5,000 towards the council's costs
- A £2,000 fine for GNA Car Sales Ltd
- Victim surcharges for both him and the company
- A deprivation order for a clocked van seized during the investigation
Councillor Jenny Hannaby of Oxfordshire County Council said the false claims left buyers "frustrated, out of pocket and potentially even in danger". She made another point worth sitting with: these vans were bought by people who rely on them to earn a living. A tradesperson who pays low-mileage money for a high-mileage van inherits worn brakes, a tired clutch, a stretched timing chain and suspension that has already done the work of a much older vehicle. The breakdown does not care what the dial says.
The trade press picked the case up too. AM, the UK automotive retail industry title, reported the conviction under the plain headline "Trader guilty of £20k mileage fraud on high mileage vans".
Oxfordshire County Council and AM Online, 11 February 2026
Why Vans Are the Perfect Target for Clocking
Cars get clocked too, but vans are where the maths really works for a fraudster.
The value gap is bigger. Van prices are driven hard by mileage because buyers know what a working van goes through. Knocking 20,000 miles off a Transit-sized van can add thousands to the screen price in one stroke.
The mileage accrues faster. A courier or hire van can cover 40,000 miles a year without breaking a sweat. That means huge, valuable rollbacks are plausible on young vehicles, which keeps the fraud inside the pre-MOT window.
And the supply chain helps. Ex-fleet and ex-rental vans come to auction in bulk, often clean and well presented, exactly the stock a small trader can buy cheap, clock, and turn around quickly. If you are buying at auction yourself, our guide to buying a used car at auction explains why auction stock demands more homework, not less.
What This Case Means If You Are Buying Used
The uncomfortable truth from the Oxford case: a young, low-mileage van with a matching service book can still be a fraud. Every check the average buyer made on those six vans came back clean, because the fraud was built to pass them.
That does not mean checks are pointless. It means you need to know what each check can and cannot see.
For vehicles over three years old, the MOT mileage timeline is the clocker's enemy. Readings that drop, or a van that suddenly stops covering miles, stand out immediately. We break down how to read those patterns in our guide to mileage discrepancies.
For vehicles under three, the burden shifts to provenance. Who owned this van? A one-owner fleet vehicle has a documented life: the leasing company knows exactly what mileage it returned with. Ask the seller directly what mileage the van had when they bought it, and get the answer in writing. A dealer who clocked the van now has to lie on paper, which is exactly the evidence that convicts them later.
How to Protect Yourself From a Clocked Van
The practical checklist, from the workshop floor:
- Match the wear to the dial. A 25,000 mile van should not have a steering wheel polished smooth, pedal rubbers worn to the metal, or a driver's seat collapsed on one side. Trust the wear, not the number.
- Read the service history like a sceptic. Stamps are easy. Ring the garages that supposedly did the work and confirm the mileage they recorded. Seczkowski's fraud relied on nobody making that phone call.
- Ask for the fleet or rental history. Ex-fleet is fine, honest ex-fleet is often good value. But demand the paperwork showing the mileage at defleet. No paperwork, no deal.
- Check the MOT timeline the moment it exists. From year three onwards every test records the mileage. One reading that does not fit the pattern is all it takes.
- Keep everything. The advert, the messages, the receipt. The £2,529 compensation order in this case existed because buyers could prove what they were told.
Six vans and £20,000 in Oxford. European Parliament research estimates odometer tampering affects up to 12 per cent of used car sales, so this case is not an outlier, it is the visible edge of a market-wide problem. The fraudsters are counting on you checking nothing. Check everything.
Useful Links
- Consumer protection rights - GOV.UK - Your rights when a vehicle is not as described, including misrepresented mileage
- Find your local Trading Standards office - GOV.UK - Report suspected clocking to the team that prosecuted the Oxford case
- Being charged with a crime - GOV.UK - How criminal prosecutions like the Oxford case proceed through the courts
FAQ
What is van clocking?
Clocking is winding back a vehicle's odometer so it shows fewer miles than it has actually covered. A lower reading means a higher price, and on hard-worked vans the gap between real and displayed mileage can be worth thousands. It is fraud under the Fraud Act 2006.
Why did the clocked vans in the Oxford case have no mileage record?
The trader targeted ex-fleet and rental vans under three years old. A vehicle only gets its first MOT at three years, and MOT tests are where mileage is recorded centrally. Before that first test there is no official mileage trail, so the rolled-back figures had nothing to contradict them.
How can I check a van for clocking before I buy?
Compare the MOT mileage timeline against the service history and the condition of the vehicle. Worn pedals, a shiny steering wheel and a sagging driver's seat on a supposedly low-mileage van are warning signs. On vans under three years old, demand the full service history and evidence of who ran the vehicle before the sale.
What happens to dealers caught clocking vehicles?
Clocking prosecutions are usually brought by Trading Standards under fraud and consumer protection law. In the Oxford case the trader received an 18 month custodial sentence suspended for two years, plus compensation, costs and a company fine. Serious or repeat offenders go to prison.
Can I get my money back if I bought a clocked van?
If the seller knew the mileage was false you have a fraud claim, and courts can order compensation as part of a criminal case, as happened in Oxford. Report it to Trading Standards and Action Fraud, keep the advert and all paperwork, and get the true mileage evidenced in writing.
