Motors boss let employee take blame for speeding (From Wharfedale Observer)

Motors boss let employee take blame for speeding

1:15pm Friday 25th January 2013 in News

A former boss at a Bradford motor dealership has been warned he could face jail for letting an employee take the blame when he was caught speeding.

Gordon Mee, 46, who was principal dealer at JCT600 BMW and Mini Bradford until August last year, let 36-year-old sales manager Simon Stolting falsely claim he was the driver when Mee’s car was caught travelling over the speed limit in a 30mph zone on November 5, 2011.

Both Mee and Stolting, an employee of the family-owned Bradford-based motor group, appeared at Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday.

The pair pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

Bradford Crown Court heard Stolting claimed to have been driving the car at the time and even went on a speed awareness course so Mee would not be prosecuted.

Judge Peter Benson said: “You have both pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, which will stand you in good stead. You must understand the court first and foremost will be considering a custodial sentence in this case.”

Mee, of Skipton Road, Ilkley, and Stolting, of Maingate, Hepworth, Holmfirth, will be sentenced on February 22.

Both were released on unconditional bail.

Last night, a spokesman for JCT600 said that after its own investigation into the matter, Mee had been dismissed from the company as a result of his actions, but Stolting remained an employee.

Mee was appointed principal dealer for JCT600 BMW and Mini when JCT600 invested £700,000 on expanding and revamping its Mini dealership in Bradford in April 2011.

Stolting joined JCT600 in 2007 in a sales role at its Bradford BMW site and was then promoted to business manager of Chevrolet Bradford. He moved to Mercedes-Benz of Sheffield before returning to BMW Bradford as sales manager in April 2010.

In February 2011, the Telegraph & Argus reported how Mini had awarded him its national ‘Rookie of the Year’ accolade.

JCT600 was founded in Bradford in 1946 by Edward Tordoff. His son, Jack, remains chairman of the Apperley Bridge-based group, which has become one of Yorkshire’s leading family-run businesses with about 1,350 employees.