A man who turned back the mileage on a car he sold on the internet was caught when its new owner checked with a hire car company.

Anthony Johnson sold a car to Chessington resident Gary Ferguson using the Autotrader website.

He claimed the five-year-old Toyota Celica had done 32,000 miles but Mr Ferguson became suspicious when he looked through the papers and found the car he had just paid £7,200 for had been an Avis hire car.

Avis confirmed the true mileage of the car when it sold it in 2004 was more than 74,000 miles.

Mr Ferguson obtained a refund from the seller but Kingston trading standards took up the case and Johnson, from Norfolk, appeared at Kingston Magistrates' Court on October 17.

He was given a suspended six-month sentence for the offence and ordered to pay costs of about £2,500.

Kingston Council's chief trading standards officer Ted Forsyth said: "In this case Mr Johnson's representative told the court this incident had left him almost £10,000 out of pocket. Others thinking of taking a risk or deliberately flouting the law on the internet should take careful note.

"Trading standards will continue to actively monitor the internet to ensure that traders are complying with the law."