A used car and van trader has been sentenced after being found guilty of fraudulent trading, following an investigation by Oxfordshire County Council’s trading standards team.
Grzegorz Seczkowski, 41, from Abingdon, who traded as GNA Car Sales, was found to have clocked the mileage on six vans prior to selling them to unsuspecting customers.
He bought vans at auction and clocked them before selling them through AutoTrader and from his forecourt.
By selling the vans with reduced mileage he made an additional profit over their true worth of £20,000.
All the vans were under three years old and had not undergone their first Mot and their mileage was not centrally recorded.
This enabled him to roll back the vehicles’ mileage to just above their last service records, despite them having been driven up to 22,000 additional miles, allowing him to market them as low mileage vehicles with maintained service histories.
At a hearing at Oxford Crown Court on 3 February 2026, Seczkowski was sentenced to 18 months custody, suspended for two years. He was also ordered to pay £2,529 in compensation to his customers and £5,000 towards the council’s costs.
GNA Car Sales was also fined £2,000 and both Mr Seczkowski and GNA Car Sales Ltd will have to pay a victim surcharge. A deprivation order in respect of a clocked van seized by trading standards as part of the investigation was also made.
Councillor Jenny Hannaby, Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Community Safety said, said: “Vehicle clocking misleads customers making a significant financial decision, with false claims leaving them frustrated, out of pocket and potentially even in danger. These vans were being sold to people who rely on them to earn a living, so breakdowns or high repair bills can have a significant impact on their lives.
“Dishonest trading of this kind undermines people’s confidence when buying a second hand vehicle, making the process more stressful and creating unnecessary difficulties for legitimate traders.
“Our trading standards team is here to protect Oxfordshire residents from rogue traders like Mr Seczkowski and will take similar action against anyone found to be engaging in offending of this nature.”
