MORRIS MINOR owner Sarah Smith paid out £1,238 to get her classic car ready to hit the road, a court heard.

But though professional mechanic Michael Lee spent six months on the job, her pride and joy was in an unroadworthy condition when he returned it to her, York magistrates were told.

And though he had secured an MOT certificate for it, some of the bodywork was so corroded that the car was a danger to anyone using it and to other road users, said Liz Levett of York trading standards.

Ms Smith ordered a new MOT which the vehicle failed.

Today Lee, 39, faces court bills of nearly £3,000, including a civil court judgement that he pays his former customer £2,000 to cover her expenses.

He told York trading standards he had genuinely missed a lot of work he should have carried out.

Lee, of Long Street, Easingwold, who trades as Lee Mobile Services, pleaded guilty to supplying a vehicle in an unroadworthy condition.

Magistrates fined him £500 and ordered him to pay £300 costs.

His solicitor, Sally Howard, said Ms Smith had obtained a £2,000 county court judgement against him which he had agreed to pay off at £5 a week, and that his farm-based sole trader business was hit by foot and mouth restrictions.

Ms Levett said both Ms Smith and her partner, Christopher Warriner, had stressed to Lee that they wanted him to carry out all necessary work to get the 32-year-old car in a sound and therefore roadworthy condition.

Mr Warriner had told Lee certain tasks he wanted carrying out. But when the car was returned, these had not been done and after a "cursory" examination he took the car for an MOT test, which it failed.

After an examiner from the Vehicle Inspectorate, which oversees MOT certificates, had also inspected the car Ms Smith went to trading standards.

Mrs Howard said that Lee took the job on because he needed work for his new business. He had believed that Mr Warriner was to finish the repairs after he had done his part.

He had taken the car to a "reputable" garage to get an MOT certificate.

He now used more than one garage for MOT certificates and had a retired MOT examiner check his repairs.

Updated: 10:59 Friday, September 07, 2001