A WIRRAL car dealership was ordered to pay more than £1,500 after pleading guilty to two offences of selling vehicles on the public highway.

Sovereign Cars of Seabank Road, New Brighton, was taken to court by Wirral Council after continuing to display vehicles for sale on the road outside its premises despite receiving warnings for the practice.

Guilty pleas were entered on behalf of the company in respect of two offences observed in December 2014 and January 2015.

Wirral magistrates fined the compnay £600 for each offence and directed it to pay £295 costs plus a further £60 victim surcharge.

The firm had been visited by environmental enforcement officers several times to advise them against selling vehicles off the highway. Warning letters were also sent in respect of previous offences.

Councillor Bernie Mooney, cabinet member for environment,  said: “The council receives regular complaints of cars being advertised for sale on the highway.

"Some sites cause a distraction for road-users, obscure visibility at road junctions and block lay-bys intended for motorists to visit neighbouring businesses.

"In this instance, the company involved had been warned several times about its actions but continued to ignore the advice leaving the council no other option but to seek action through the courts.”

The offence of selling vehicles on the road is intended to target those people who run a business selling motor vehicles and use the road as a mock showroom.

It is not intended to target individual private sellers of single vehicles, but the nuisance caused by the presence of numbers of vehicles being offered for sale by the same person or business.

An offence is only be committed where there are two or more vehicles being offered for sale for the purposes of a business.