One in three used cars on sale would fail an MOT test - and one in 20 are so dangerous they should never be driven away, trading standards officers said yesterday.
British car dealers and private sellers are also allowing the "disgrace" of 30,000 potential deathtraps to remain on the road by selling "cut and shut" vehicles where two halves of separate cars had been welded together.
Tony Allen, a senior officer from Trafford, Manchester, accused the seedier side of the £19bn a year used car trade of allowing consumers to play Russian roulette, saying his report for the insititute of trading standards administration should send shock waves through the industry.
Officers plan tougher safety checks which could lead to rogue traders having their stock seized and crushed, as well as risking up to three months imprisonment or fines of up to £5,000. The measures are being adopted following European legislation which gives officials and magistrates powers on forecourts and in the courts and coincide with an Office of Fair Trading inquiry into shoddy workmanship in garage servicing and repairs.
Mr Allen, author of the report Coffins on Wheels, said the condition of cars may be a factor in up to 360 deaths and 4,300 serious injuries in road accidents each year, about a 10th of the total. "It is simply not acceptable that consumers continue to play Russian roulette when purchasing used cars."
Crash testing of "cut and shut" cars by the RAC showed that occupants could face certain death at speeds of just 30mph. All such cars, even when passed for safety by the independent vehicle inspec torate, should have to carry special Q plates, he said.
"This is like putting a pox on the car. It is difficult to insure and almost impossible to sell. To want to buy a car that has been chopped and rewelded, you must be nuts. Dodgy traders rely on people not knowing this has been done."
Mr Allen said the institute's informal poll on the safety record of used cars on sale showed rules were being routinely ignored by some traders who believed the chances of being pulled up were negligible. Random visits to dealers in six authorities and involving around three dozen cars had shown that just over a third would fail an MOT and in a couple of cases faults were so bad the cars should not have been allowed on the road.
Bald tyres caused the most common problems and shock absorbers were often shot too, he said. The poll was small, admitted Mr Allen, "but there is no reason to doubt what we found is reliable."
The RAC, which provided the 30,000 estimate for "cut and shut" cars - others put it as high as 120,000 - said its crash tests "support our insistence that these cars are dangerous and should be banned."
John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, backed the measures which would "help make life difficult for unscrupulous traders." He promised further moves to combat mileage "clocking" and to insist those selling cars told buyers about vehicles which had been insurance write-offs.
The 12,000-member Retail Motor Industry Federation agreed no trader should allow consumers to view, let alone test drive, unroadworthy cars. But David Evans, its acting chief executive, said: "It is all too easy to sensationalise and seek publicity for the disreputable end of the market."
