A CAR sales company and its director have been fined for selling a vehicle with deployed airbags without telling the buyer.

In October 2012, Caerphilly council’s Trading Standards team received a complaint from a resident who had purchased a Fiat 500 from WD Cars Limited in Cross Keys for £4,700.

The complainant claimed the vehicle’s airbags had been deployed, and they had not been informed. After an investigation, the case was finally heard at Newport Magistrates Court this month.

Caerphilly council reveal-ed that WD Cars Limited and its director, Warren James Davies, pleaded guilty to two offences each under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2007 in relation to the sale of the Fiat 500.

The company, which is now insolvent, and its director both admitted giving a consumer an invoice that indicated they had fewer rights than they did, and failing to disclose that the airbags had been deployed and needed replacing.

Mr Davies was fined £1,400 (£700 per offence), ordered to pay council costs of £562, a victim surcharge of £70, and £1,300 compensation to the driver, to cover the cost of a new air bag.

The company was also fined £100.

David Poole, the council’s cabinet member for Community and Leisure Services, said: “Our Trading Standards team work tirelessly to ensure that consumers and businesses alike are treated fairly and receive what they are entitled to.

“In this instance, the consumer could potentially have been placed in a very dangerous situation with the airbags on the vehicle in need of replacement when the car was purchased.”

He welcomed the fines.