A DIRECTOR of a business confronted two car dealers after noticing the mileage on a car did not add up, before he was told by the men that they would just ‘Tipp-Ex it out’, a court heard.

Robert Ings, one of the owners of Brenhaul Commercial Services, in Chickenhall Lane, Eastleigh, told Salisbury Crown Court that he completed an online form to say a Jaguar car had passed its MOT when he saw its history.

Mr Ings said the car had 76,000 miles on the clock but a previous MOT certificate said it had done 178,000. He confronted the men who gave him the car – Richard Burbage and Stan Rudgley.

Mr Ings said: “One of them said ‘we will Tipp-Ex it out’. They said that was what they were going to do.”

After thinking about it Mr Ings thought maybe there was a reasonable explanation, like the dashboard had been completely replaced.

Burbage, 44, of Poplar Way, Southampton; Ryan Overton, 22, of St Peter’s Close Southampton; and Darryl Warren, 35, of Lower Derby Road, Portsmouth are on trial for five counts of fraudulent trading, including allegations that cars sold to customers were clocked.

The three have all pleaded not guilty while Rudgley, who was a director of two of the companies involved, pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading at an earlier hearing.

The charges involve a number of companies – Hampshire Vehicle Sales, Woolston Car Supermarket, Service 4 Life, Deltaflag and Swift Bird Ltd.

Mr Ings told jurors yesterday, how he first started doing MOTs for Swift Bird Ltd in August 2015.

He said Burbage and Rudgley would both drop off cars and at first the payments were on time but later became delayed.

Mr Ings added after one phone call requesting money, Burbage threatened him and told him he was going to visit him with his mates. He claimed Burbage then turned up and threw £2,000 at him before leaving.

Mr Ings said the pair also owed him more than £10,000 for unpaid MOTs and for a Rolls Royce that Burbage bought but never paid for.

Defending, Mark Florida-James suggested Mr Ings “embellished” his claims and that Burbage did not throw any money or threaten him. He told Mr Ings he made the Tipp-Ex incident up, as if it was true it would have been in his original statement.

He added Burbage had also not paid for some MOT works because Mr Ings owed him money from when a head gasket, which Mr Ings replaced in a car for Burbage, broke after six weeks.

The trial continues.