A Slough-based garage has been forced to pay £1600 after pleading guilty to making an illegal car modification.
Representatives from SVG Motorsport Ltd, which trades as SVG Performance, pleaded guilty at Reading Magistrate’s Court earlier this month.
The garage was prosecuted as the result of an undercover investigation by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and Thames Valley Police.
As part of the investigation, officers posed as garage customers and requested illegal modifications to be carried out. According to reports in the Slough Observer and Slough Express, SVG Motorsport technicians removed the catalytic converter from the investigator’s vehicle, and re-mapped its engine control unit (ECU) to produce a louder ‘pop and bang’ noise.
Magistrates were told the garage did not inform the investigators that the modifications made to their car would make it illegal to drive on public roads.
The garage was fined £200 and ordered to pay £1320 in compensation alongside an £80 victim surcharge.
Chris Dormand, head of the Market Surveillance Unit at the DVSA, said the department “works tirelessly to stop pop and bang modifications – removing anti-social noise and excess pollution from our streets.
“The DVSA will target any businesses who flout the law as demonstrated by the success of this prosecution.”
GB News reports that two other Slough-based businesses have previously been targeted by the DVSA and Thames Valley Police in similar investigations in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
The DVSA continues to crack down on garages carrying out illegal vehicle modifications. Devon and Cornwall is among the police forces trialling so-called noise cameras which work together with Automatic Numberplate Recognition (ANPR) technology to catch anti-social drivers with excessively loud cars.
It is illegal to modify a vehicle to make it noisier than it was when it was type approved.
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