A car dealer has been handed a 12 week suspended prison sentence after selling a potentially dangerous car while posing as a private seller.

Ian Blinkhorne of Elm Road, Stratford, pleaded guilty to the charges against him at Nuneaton Magistrates following an investigation by Warwickshire County Council’s Trading Standards team.

The 51-year-old sold the Ford Ka to a Leamington woman after he had advertised the vehicle for sale on Facebook, The Leamington Spa Courier reported.

It later failed an MOT test and a Trading Standards’ vehicle examiner identified a number of faults which made the car unsafe to drive.

Among the issues were faulty power steering, seized brakes, excessive corrosion to the driver’s seat mounting and failed suspension.

After Trading Standards became involved in the case, Blinkhorne gave the woman a full refund before pleading guilty to advertising as a private seller and selling an unsafe vehicle.

Investigations revealed that Blinkhorne advertised 89 vehicles for sale on the website, Gumtree since February 2013.