A FIRM which conned a pensioner by selling him a second-hand scooter has been fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £700 in costs.

Mobility Network Limited was found guilty of two offences under the Trade Descriptions Act at Greenwich Magistrates' Court on August 11 after duping a 75-year-old Lewisham man.

The pensioner bought the scooter in October 2002 after responding to an advert in a national newspaper, thinking it was brand new.

But he soon became suspicious and began to suspect the scooter was second hand after experiencing a number of problems with it.

Lewisham trading standards carried out a year-long investigation into Mobility Network Limited, of Ashford, Middlesex which found the scooter had previously been sold to a customer in East Anglia.

In addition to the firm's fines, company director, Jack Houston of Church Walk, Thames Ditton, Surrey, pleaded guilty to one offence under the Trade Descriptions Act in connection with the mobility scooter.

He was fined £500 by the magistrates and ordered to pay £200 towards the council's costs. He was also ordered to pay £500 compensation to the pensioner.

Councillor Gavin Moore, deputy mayor, said: "Consumers have a right to expect items they have purchased are sold in good faith.

"We will take legal action against any business which attempts to dupe its customers in this unfair way."