A car salesman had cars fixed for himself and loved ones free of charge by claiming that the parts were for other vehicles on the garage forecourt.
Jason Kelly ordered hundreds of pounds worth of parts including tyres and had MOTS done for his car, his partner’s car and a car belonging to a friend.
Kelly, who worked for the Pentagon Nissan and Fiat car dealership in Northgate, Huddersfield, was found guilty after a trial of fraud by false representation.
The 30-year-old falsified documents between May and August 2016 while working in a high position of trust for the company, Kirklees Magistrates’ Court was told.
Shamaila Qureshi, prosecuting, said the firm began investigating Kelly when he had four new tyres fitted to his Vauxhall Astra.
She told magistrates: “He ordered the tyres for his own vehicle and booked it against a Fiat 500 on the forecourt.
“The investigation found that he had work carried out on two further cars including MOTs and booked these against other cars on the forecourt but these parts were not fitted to the cars on the forecourt.”
As well as for himself, Kelly ordered new parts for his partner’s Mini and for a friend’s Volkswagen Golf, with paperwork showing that these were needed for a Nissan Qashqai already at the garage.
Kelly, of Britannia Road in Milnsbridge, also used a company filing system to write off some of the costs where the work carried out could not be attributed to cars on the forecourt.
Following an interview with the company he was placed on suspension pending disciplinary action but resigned while the investigation was being carried out.
Mrs Qureshi said: “He stated that the service manager sanctioned his actions as the value of the parts were equal to bonus payments but the manager confirmed that no such authority was given as bonuses were made by cheque and not in this way.”
Kelly, who held no previous convictions, denied fraud and his case was listed for trial last week which he failed to turn up for.
All six witnesses, his colleagues, attended for the hearing and a district judge found the case proved and convicted him of fraud in his absence.
The total loses to the company was £760 for the car parts and MOTs and an additional £850 for labour.
Mrs Qureshi added: “This happened over a three month period and, as he was in charge of making such decisions in that company, this was why it was not questioned for a while.
“He abused that position of trust and power that the company put him in charge of and there was an element of planning involved in respect of his actions.”
The prosecutor added that further loss was caused to the business as all of the witnesses turned up for the trial when they should have been at work.
Kelly, who was not represented, told magistrates that he has since gained new employment at another car dealership based in Huddersfield.
He said that he’d written to the court admitting his guilt ahead of his trial, but Mrs Qureshi told magistrates that this was to “get rid of the matter” and so was not a plea that the CPS could take.
Magistrates sentenced Kelly to a community order with 120 hours of unpaid work.
He will have to pay £1,617 compensation to his former employers plus £620 trial costs and £85 victim surcharge.
