Mechanic jailed for fraud against 20 victims

A mobile mechanic has been jailed for fraud after taking large upfront payments from customers for car parts he never returned to fit.

Mark Douglas Lowe, 47, from Bushes Farm Campsite, near Blandford in Dorset, admitted running a fraudulent business and was sentenced to 27 months in prison.

Dorset Council said he had operated across 10 counties between April 2023 and October 2025, and had cost 20 victims between £400 and £3,400.

Leader Nick Ireland said: "The determination of those affected helped bring this offender to justice and prevented others from being targeted in the same way."

The council said Lowe had traded under three different limited companies and had used numerous accounts to take payments.

He did this after banks closed his accounts, owing to the high number of charge-back requests they received.

It said while most victims had lived in Dorset, his offending had covered 10 counties as far apart as Cornwall, Staffordshire and Yorkshire.

Many of the victims had paid large sums "in good faith" for parts and repairs that had never been provided, and some had been subjected to abuse, Ireland said.

The council said Bournemouth Crown Court had heard customers had contacted Lowe through a third-party website after their cars broke down.

He had visited them to diagnose the problem and had asked for "significant sums of money up front" for parts, it said.

When customers complained after he did not return, it said he would make excuses, ignore their calls or answer the phone and abuse his customers.

Lowe was disqualified from being a company director for five years, as well as being made subject to a criminal behaviour order for five years that will prevent him from working as a motor mechanic.

The council said Lowe had 11 alias names and had changed his name when he had moved from Basingstoke to Dorset in about 2013.

At sentencing on 24 July 2026 Recorder Bebb KC said Lowe was "callous in the extreme" during a "sustained period of offending" involving many victims, some of whom were "extremely vulnerable".

He said, "Your customers trusted you and you simply took their money causing sleepless nights and significant emotional impact."

Ireland thanked the victims who came forward to support the prosecution and said the council would "always take robust action against rogue traders who exploit residents and undermine honest businesses".