Thanks Can anyone suggest a No win No fee solicitor. We are based in the North East. Is it possible to claim for the cost of repairs and compensation for the stress and the fact that the vehicle has been unusable since it was bought?

We need help. Friday 20 August 2010 My friend purchased a Mini Cooper S in a part exchange deal with her modified SEAT leon for a total of £5950. The advert on auto trader and the car sales website described the car as an excellent example of a mini. Mint condition and excellent service history with a long MOT and tax which had done 89,000 miles. After a couple of phone calls and emails to all of which he said the car was mint no faults. We have these emails and part of the advert from auto trader from when my friend shared this with me by email from the auto trader website. I agreed a deal over the phone. We travelled approximately 140 mile to view and buy the car. On arrival it was in an industrial unit with there company sign outside. He got the car out for us and it looked immaculate. No scratches or anything that was blatantly obvious. My friend took it for a short test drive and the only thing she notice was that it pulled to the left, which he said will be because he had just put a new tyre on the off side and the tracking might need doing. All the time he maintained that the car was in good condition. We decided to do the deal and while all the paper work was being sorted we realised the MOT ran out end of August. To this he said that it would defiantly pass the MOT. We said what if it fails? His response was 'if it fails on anything I will pay to put it right, I know this will pass, I promise'. 'it will be covered by your 6 month warranty anyway'. Because he seemed so genuine and convincing we decided to take the car. During the drive home we noticed rattling from the rear, exhaust and a little whine from the front. We called the dealer and said that the exhaust was rattling. We were told the lad that sold you it would phone tomorrow. The next day 21/08/2010 the car was put through an MOT. It failed miserably The so called new tyre on the front was on appearance new but on the inside edge of both front tyres they were worn down to the cord. The front and back brushes are totally worn. The total cost of parts to get it through the MOT is £340 not including labour. The inspectors comments were this car is not road worthy and dangerous. You should not have been allowed to drive it away. That same day we contacted the trader and spoke to who I can only presume is the owner of the company. The agreement which was made was explained and he said the seller would call us to take the details and pay for the parts. when the seller called us back he said that if we priced the parts and called him on the Monday 23/08/2010 he would pay the cost. When the price of the parts was sent to the trade he basically responded offensively and said he would not be paying for anything. Our response was that we would return the vehicle and have the SEAT back with the money. His response to this was you can come and get it but you have to get the mini back to me, I'm charging you £25 a day storage and you will be minus the cost of the work I have done on you car. He claimed to replace the drive shafts and that the water pump and turbo were going. There was absolutly nothing wrong with the SEAT as it had been through an MOT and service the previous week. The parts which he said were wearing out are upgraded parts to suit the modifications. This is total extortion as he knows the car is not road worthy and it would cost a fortune for us to transport it 140 mile. It has since transpired that he is using the vehicle as his personal vehicle. After thought we decided to fix the car and pursue him for the money as advised by the consumer act. But know the engine management light has come on and the engine sounds rough. This is obviously more expence which my friend cannot afford. We need good advice on this matter. The more communication we have with these people the worse it gets. H e has knowingly sold a dangerous and unroad worthy car. He is wrongly advertising vehicles as he know has the SEAT on his website for sale saying its done 69,000 miles and we know it done just over 73,000. What exactly can we do. I want to go to the local press to name and shame, can I do this? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks Al