A CAR company could struggle to survive because it sold a vehicle with a mileage that was 50,000 miles too low, a court heard.

Artist and gardener Kroly Sndor, 66, told York magistrates that he would never have paid Holgate Bridge Service Station Ltd £6,500 for a R-reg BMW 323i SE if he had known its true mileage.

"I felt really gutted," he said of the moment when he learned the car had done more than 135,000 miles, instead of the 78,000 on its odometer.

Tony Stevenson, prosecuting, for York trading standards, said the York company was not responsible for "clocking" the BMW, but had failed to warn Mr Sndor, from Acomb, that the mileage could be wrong.

Holgate Bridge Service Station, of Holgate Road, York, denied selling the car in November 2003 under a false trades description, but was convicted after a day-long trial.

Magistrates fined it £1,500, plus £1,200 compensation to Mr Sndor, and the prosecution's £4,422.50 costs.

They ordered the company to pay the £7,000 plus total bill at £200 a month.

Its solicitor, Julian Tanikal, said the company, which had a £200,000 turnover last year (2004), was only just breaking even and there was a risk it would not be able to meet the monthly payments. Earlier, he had warned that a higher monthly payment could finish off the company.

The court heard that the sale would have been legal, despite the false mileage, if the company had put a disclaimer on the dashboard.

During the trial, Mr Sndor said there was no disclaimer on the car, and Mr Stevenson handed in a copy of the car's invoice signed by both the buyer and the garage without a disclaimer.

But company director Neil McColm said there was a disclaimer on the car, because all his cars had one, and Mr Tanikal handed in another copy of the car's invoice signed by both buyer and seller that did have a disclaimer on.

Earlier, Mr Stevenson had said the car had 135,086 on its odometer when sold in September 2003. It passed through several auctions and companies, and by the time Premier Motors of Darlington sold it to Prestige Cars of Boroughbridge on October 30, 2003, it had 78,190 on its "clock" and the sales invoice warned: "Mileage is incorrect."

Holgate Bridge Service Station, which shares profits on some car sales with the Boroughbridge company, sold the BMW to Mr Sndor a couple of weeks later.

After the case, Matt Boxall, principal trading standards officer, said: "'We are really pleased with the outcome of this case. The business didn't make any attempt to check the mileage was accurate and allowed the complainant to believe everything was in order. The business could have easily done more to prevent this problem arising."

He said: "We would also like to stress that trading standards officers regularly visit motor dealers across the city to offer advice and ensure they are complying with the law. We would like to reassure car buyers that it is rare to find problems like this in York."

Updated: 10:40 Saturday, June 25, 2005