A FOUR Marks car dealership has been found guilty under the Trade Descriptions Act of selling a vehicle without fitting an agreed category-one alarm system.

Four Marks Carriage Company was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay costs totalling £945 following an appearance at Newbury Magistrates Court on Monday.

The charge related to the sale of a 'K' registered 16-valve VW Corrado which, on June 23, 2001, was sold to Christine Coggins of Lambourn with a written statement confirming that the vehicle was fitted with a Thatcham category-one immobiliser. The alarm was not category one.

The owner had specifically requested a category-one alarm to comply with a request by her insurance company.

Speaking after the court case, Mrs Coggins told The Herald that on receipt of the £6,300 car the alarm was found to be disfunctional and not of the correct spec.

She had taken the vehicle back to the garage but, she said, had been unable to resolve the situation and had resorted in the end to installing the correct alarm system at a cost to herself of £340.

Relieved by Monday's verdict, Mrs Coggins said that for her it had been a matter of principle.

"I waited a long time to get that car - it was a lot of money to me and when I bought it I believed I was getting what I was told.

"It's not right, you cannot treat customers like that. It seemed to be all about sales and not about customer service," she said.

According to Berkshire trading standards officer Phil Mitchell, who brought the prosecution, although the Four Marks Carriage Company had claimed that the incident had occurred due to the action of another person, the court found that the company had not exercised due diligence in the matter and the case was therefore proven.

Managing director of Four Marks Carriage Company Sean Horsey said he had been "shocked and upset" by the verdict which he believed was "unfair".

He told The Herald he had been in business for ten years and this, he said, was the first time criminal proceedings had been taken against him or his company.

Nonetheless, Mr Horsey says his sympathy is still with the customer. "Whatever the verdict, we would still have offered compensation for the alarm system," he said.