Shareholders at Pendragon’s annual general meeting have overwhelming rejected the proposed directors’ pay packages in a rebellion against the company’s performance.

A significant number of shareholders also voted against the reappointment of Trevor Finn as chief executive and Mike Davies as chairman.

New, tougher official guidelines make it clear that it’s up to the retailer to check whether used vehicles have had whatever safety recall work they need.

The guide to safety recalls published by the government through VOSA (the Vehicle and Operator Service Agency) firmly places this responsibility on retailers for all cars going through the business – including those going to auction or a trader.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has hit UK Car Group with a £91,000 fine for the failings of its appointed representative, CC Automotive Limited: trading as Carcraft, over the monitoring of payment protection insurance sales.

Mazda Motors UK plans to cut up to 25 outlets from its 155-strong network within three years as managing director Jeremy Thomson aims for undisclosed minimum volumes per dealership after a 33% fall in sales last year.

Pendragon has been fined £5000 and ordered to pay more than £30,000 to 40 of its staff after HM Revenue and Customs ruled that they had been paid less than the minimum wage.

HMRC said Pendragon deducted money for lease car payments and salary sacrifice schemes, which brought what some staff received as a basic wage (without commission, bonuses or other extras) below the national statutory minimum. This is currently £6.08 per hour for employees aged over 21 and workers are entitled to receive it, even if they sign a contract agreeing to be paid less.

Citroen UK is planning to close its current headquarters in Slough and move operations to Coventry. The company will move in with sister company, Peugeot, and share facilities at the new Peugeot HQ, Pinley House, which opened early in 2008.

A Citroen spokesman confirmed the company has issued consultation notices to staff at its Slough offices over the plans and that redundancy terms had been offered. He said no timetable for the move had yet been finalised.

A strong performance in new luxury car sales pushed 2011 full-year revenue at HR Owen up by 25% to £192.4 million. But used car trading suffered as a result and underlying trading profits were marginally down, to £1.6m from £1.7m the year before.

New car sales in March, the most important month of the year for registrations, are running well ahead of forecasts, according to figures seen by Auto Retail Network.

Auto retailers we have spoken to say predicted early demand has held up well and footfall from retail customers has been good. One retail group director told us: “It's looking good; much better than we expected to be honest.”

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Shares in Pendragon, the UK’s largest auto retail group, have risen rapidly in the week after rumours of a pending stock market announcement swept the City. From a low point of 7.4p on January 19, the shares ended the week at 10.75p – a rise of over 40%.

The sudden confidence in Pendragon appears to have been triggered by an invitation to financial journalists to a press briefing this coming Tuesday. However, a spokesman for the group denied any significant announcement was imminent and suggested the rise in share value was due to “usual market movement”.