YORKSHIRE COUPLE BANNED FROM SELLING AG MACHINERY

An East Riding couple has been banned from selling tractors and agricultural machinery to members of the public after a Judge said customers had been "continually ripped off."

The Yorkshire Post reported that East Riding Council’s trading standards brought the case against Alan and Christine Farrow after they twice failed to keep legally binding promises not to make misleading statements over machinery sales.

Regular Service Dealer readers may remember these individuals as we reported on their court appearances in 2016 and again in 2017.

Mr Farrow, a director of QF Tractors Ltd and Christine Farrow, a former director of the company, both of Canal Head, Pocklington appeared at county court in Leeds at the beginning of this month where they admitted nine allegations of contempt of court.

The Yorkshire Post said the Farrows first came to the attention of trading standards in 2005 and made their first undertaking in 2011 after complaints from customers claiming they had been sold goods that were wrongly described and of a poor quality.

In 2015, the Farrows found themselves before the courts after similar complaints, not just from the UK but also from Europe and Africa. They made a legally binding undertaking to the court not to mislead customers. But just over a year later, the complaints started again from customers who had bought machinery advertised in national farming publications. One customer in Cambridge paid £8,500 for two pick-up trucks that never arrived, while a customer in Milton Keynes bought two tractors for £14,000.

He had them shipped to Zanzibar, but when they were delivered one was an older, inferior model and not the one he had purchased. In County Donegal, a customer had to pay out an extra 1,200 Euros in repairs after the tractor he bought had mechanical issues while another bought tractors on behalf of his family based in Chad so they could fulfil a farming contract with the Chad government. But the tractors were not fit for purpose when they arrived in Chad and the family lost the contract. Acting for the Farrows, barrister Ashley Serr, told the court the recent complaints had come after their sons, who had been running the company, left in 2017.

He said that since the contempt of court charges were brought, the Farrows had contacted all the complainants and had settled all the outstanding issues.

While Mrs Farrow acknowledged her responsibility as a director, she was not involved in the day to day running of the company and had recently stepped down from her position. The court was also told that the Farrows were intending to change their business model so they would now only trade with other dealers directly and at auctions and would not be dealing with the farming community or the general public. His Honour Judge Andrew Saffman, was quoted in the Yorkshire Postsaying, “There has been a course of conduct of shoddy practices since 2005 and members of the public have continually been ripped off. “There is evidence to show you have repaid customers who have been disadvantaged by shoddy work practices.

“You have failed to comply with the undertakings given twice to the local authority and these breaches have resulted in a contempt of court - you have acted in stark contradiction of the promises made to the courts.” The judge ordered the Farrows to be subject of a 10-year injunction which bans them from advertising the sale of, or selling directly to the public farm and plant machinery, cars, motorcycles, buses and coaches as well as light, medium or heavy goods vehicles. If they wish to sell any of the items listed they will have to use an auction house but they are allowed to sell cars which the Farrows have owned for personal use direct to the public.

The judge also fined Alan Farrow £22,500 and Christine Farrow was fined £7,500 and they have to pay costs of £20,908.33. Tina Holtby, interim public protection group manager at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said, “The Farrows have persistently operated in an unprofessional manner by misleading members of the farming community for years causing large amounts of financial harm, stress and inconvenience.

“The outcome of the court hearing sends out a clear message that businesses that ignore enforcement action from both the local authority and the courts will not be tolerated.”