Neil John Lewis, a 47-year-old mechanic from Cardiff, has been given a 12-month community order. This follows his guilty plea to fraud by false representation concerning a vehicle involved in a fatal crash in St Mellons, Cardiff, in March 2023.
The court heard that Lewis, who owned G and J Motors for 21 years, had voluntarily surrendered his testing certificate after the incident. The car, which had previously been in a crash in Scotland, failed an MOT on 9 February 2023 due to a warning system light indicating a fault with the seatbelt, airbag, or both.
Two weeks later, Lewis retested the car and passed it, despite the court hearing that the seatbelts had never been replaced and were defective. He was ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and pay a £185 court surcharge and £114 costs.