FORMER Radio 1 breakfast DJ Chris Moyles claimed to be a second-hand car dealer in a bid to save up to £1 million in tax.

Moyles and two other men were named by a tax court as having taking part in a scheme called "working wheels", which counted "450 fund managers, celebrities and other high earners between 2006 and 2008" as members.

It allowed members to say they had incurred large fees while working in the second-hand car trade which they could claim back against their tax bill.

The First-tier Tribunal found Moyles's self-assessment tax return for the financial year ending to April 2008 said he "had engaged in self-employment as a used car trader".

Moyles did not give evidence directly to the tribunal but did submit "a brief witness statement".

The tribunal, under Judge Colin Bishopp, described that evidence as being "very brief and rather uninformative".

The judgment said: "It is however quite clear from the statement that he too entered the scheme for no purpose other than to achieve a tax saving, and that he took no interest in the trade."

It went on to say that Moyles was "anxious to be reassured that the scheme was lawful, and that he would not have to undertake any trading himself".

It said his accountant, a Mr Smith, had "agreed that the scale of Moyles's borrowing was driven solely by the amount of the tax loss he wanted to achieve, in his case £1 million, and that the trading was not carried on for its own sake but was merely a means to an end".

Exchequer Secretary David Gauke said: "This case is another example of why taxpayers should not fall for the promises of promoters selling schemes that are all too often too good to be true."

Moyles later tweeted later that he had taken the wrong advice and took full responsibility.