A Rickmansworth man who conned 23 people wanting training to drive a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) out of more than £63,000 has received three suspended sentences.
Appearing at Harrow Crown Court on Friday, June 24, Usman Qureshi, 39, of Rickmansworth (though now living in Dubai) was found guilty of having misled consumers under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations Act.
He was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 24 months. He must also pay a total of £10,500 towards the prosecutors’ costs and £17,500 in compensation, whilst being disqualified from being a company director for five years.
Between February 2018 and February 2020, Qureshi duped multiple victims by falsely promising to offer HGV training services. This was whilst he was a director of two businesses, Mayfair Search Group Limited and UK GRP Services Limited, both trading as New Wave Driving School.
Using a convincing website, the company claimed the training would take mere months to complete, with availability and locations provided. Payments worth up to £4,500 were taken, with victims even signing up to credit agreements for the training, which was never provided.
In several incidents, customers agreed to attend at locations that weren’t near to them only to find sessions had been cancelled at the last minute, with no refund provided. There were 23 complaints across the country investigated by Brent and Harrow Trading Standards.
The total loss to the victims was £63,293.
Harrow councillor Anjana Patel, cabinet member for environment and community safety said: “Qureshi was only interested in lining his own pocket by taking advantage of his victims who needed training to help them with employment prospects.
“It’s the job of our trading standards officers are here to protect consumers, and I’d like to thank our team for the work put in to bring an end to this nation-wide scam. We’ll do the same to anyone else who thinks they are above the law and operate unlawfully.”
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