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Crackdown on road traders in Aylesbury
Opportunist car dealers who sell their vehicles on the streets of Aylesbury have been slapped with hundreds of pounds worth of fines during a council crackdown.
A row of cars in Elmhurst Road were displaying 'environmental notices' for 100 each.
It takes the total number of tickets issued by Aylesbury Vale District Council in the past month up to 12.
Enforcement officer George Duguid said: "They (street traders) are probably avoiding income tax, they may even be claiming benefits, it is the underground market. People have no comeback."
He said the council was responding to numerous residents' complaints about their streets being turned into used car forecourts.
"A lay-by (should be) for someone to stop in an emergency or to rest on a long journey or it allows elderly people to be picked up," he said.
Legitimate car salesmen are also angry they are having to compete on an uneven footing with traders who commercially sell vehicles on the streets but are by-passing business rates.
Hotspots for street selling in Aylesbury include the A413 end of Bedgrove, where Ellen Road meets Oxford Road, and Elmhurst Road.
Councils can take action if they can prove that an individual is selling two cars on a public highway within 500 metres of each other and that they are being sold as part of a business.
Mr Duguid said: "There is nothing stopping you and I from putting a car on the street with a notice in it.
"We would never try and deprive private individuals who perhaps have notices in their cars."
The owner of a second-hand car dealership based in Aylesbury, who did not wish to be identified, said he was 'delighted' that the council is taking action against people selling cars on the streets for commercial gain.
"The reason it winds us up is because we have to register ourselves as a bona fide business, register at Companies House and for VAT.
"Businesses like mine service the cars and they are all checked so they are safe – we have got a conscience and a reputation to maintain.
"All these people in the layby are doing none of that.
"It is all cash, cash, cash and its like the black market.
"They are not contributing to the local community like me, I am helping people stay in work (by employing people and using local suppliers)."
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Weather for Aylesbury
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: -0 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: West
