A CAR trader who claimed to be selling a "mint" four-by-four has been fined - after its new owner discovered the vehicle had no four-wheel drive system.

George Pennington, of Blackburn Road in Poole, claimed the "beautiful" Land Rover Freelander worked "as it should" in adverts on Facebook and Gumtree.

However, the car had recently failed its MOT, and Pennington, 23, was told the Freelander had no prop shaft, meaning it couldn't be described as a four-wheel drive.

The car was then retested, and passed, without the prop shaft in place.

Pennington sold the car three days later to a woman from Swanage after writing in an advert: "Overall condition is mint."

The vehicle soon broke down and its new owner took it to a garage, where she was told the car was not a four-by-four and not economical to repair.

She asked Pennington for a refund, but he refused, and the owner complained to Trading Standards.

The car was examined by an expert who described it as being "not of merchantable quality", and said the rear wheels were disconnected from the engine. The expert then approached Pennington. The defendant said he wasn't a trader, meaning the consumer protection regulations don't apply.

Further investigation by Dorset County Council's Trading Standard team revealed he had advertised 14 vehicles on Facebook and 12 on Gumtree in a year.

Pennington has now appeared at Poole Magistrates' Court to admit three charges of misdescribing a vehicle and one of claiming not to be acting as a trader, contrary to consumer protection regulations.

He told the court he was "very sorry" and disqualified from driving at the time of the offences. As a result of his disqualification, he had asked a friend to take the vehicle for its MOT. The friend hadn't told him the four-wheel drive system wasn't working, Pennington said.

The defendant is now working as a builder, and is no longer selling cars.

He was fined £25 for each offence and ordered to pay compensation of £500 and prosecution costs totalling £250.

Councillor Deborah Croney of Dorset County Council said: “All sellers should make sure that they accurately describe the cars that they advertise, particularly traders.

"This case shows that the law applies regardless of whether a car is sold on social media, or another online platform. It also demonstrates that if a sale goes wrong, consumers may find it difficult to track down sellers on social media, which is something we see frequently.”