A Mislands man who sold an unroadworthy and dangerous vehicle has narrowly avoided jail.

Stuart Wheeler, of Leach Heath Lane, Rednal, was given a six-month sentence, suspended for two years, was ordered to do 100 hours unpaid work and was also ordered to pay £2,000 compensation and £2,213.10 costs at Worcester Crown Court.

Wheeler, who traded under the name SW Autos, sold the Range Rover SE with LPG conversion on ebay.

The vehicle was described as not ‘your normal rubbish with rot all round’ and declared it had a ‘full Land Rover history’. But, the family who bought the vehicle found it had a substantial amount of rust.

After inspections by trading standards and an expert vehicle examiner, more problems were discovered, including defective LPG fuel pipes and a front brake pipe interfering with moving parts on the suspension. Also, no evidence was found that suggested the vehicle had been serviced by a Land Rover dealer for the last 60,000 recorded miles.

Wheeler, who was charged with six offences under the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 and one offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988, had previously pleaded guilty to all but two of the charges at an earlier hearing at Redditch Magistrates Court and was ordered to pay £250 for the road traffic offence.

Posted: 09|11|07 at 8:01 am. Filed under: UK News.