A MAN issued more than 30 MoT certificates without performing checks on the cars involved, a court heard.

Roy Claydon admitted 35 separate charges of fraud by false representation during a hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court.

The 52-year-old issued the certificates in Jaywick during a three day period in March.

He was found to have committed the con following an investigation by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.

During the hearing, Claydon spoke only to confirm his details and enter his string of guilty pleas.

The court heard Claydon was fit and able for unpaid work, however Judge Charles Gratwicke ordered a pre-sentence report to help determine what the appropriate punishment would be.

“I cannot pass sentence today because of the workload in my list,” he said.

“I make no observation at this stage as to what the sentence should be save to say that these offences are serious even if by virtue of committing any crime on 35 different occasions.

“It seems to me the court would be assisted by a pre-sentence report.

“I am going to order one to give the court as full a picture of the background of the defendant and what gave rise to this extremely serious course of action during the period in question.

“All sentencing options will remain open.”

Judge Gratwicke adjourned sentencing until tomorrow, subject to the probation service having sufficient time to meet with Claydon in the morning and the court being able to accommodate him in the afternoon.

He was bailed until that day - or one where he can be sentenced at court - with conditions to reside at his home address in Somerset Close, Colchester, and to comply with all requests from probation.

A number of different cars were involved in Claydon’s scam including a Ford Transit van, Mazda 6 and a Ford Fiesta.

In each of the charges Claydon admitted to he is said to have dishonestly made a false representation in order to make a gain for himself by producing the falsified MoT certificates.

An MoT is an annual check on cars required by law in the UK which are more than three years old.

They confirm the road worthiness of the vehicles, check they are safe to drive and comply with laws surrounding carbon emissions.