TWO Notts businessmen narrowly escaped being jailed yesterday after admitting running a business which left elderly people out of pocket.

John Cooney, 37, and business partner Carl Mould, 46, were investigated by Notts Trading Standards in 2010 and told by a court to sign an agreement under the Enterprise Act 2002 to abide by a dutiful code of practice while running UK Mobility Plus.

But "just a few weeks" later, trading standards received more complaints and in September the men were forced by Nottingham County Court to sign another undertaking to operate within the law and refund victims.

Complaints started to come in again in December 2010 before the business suddenly closed on January 6, 2011, without telling customers.

The company, based in the village of Epperstone, sold aids for the elderly including rise and recline chairs, bath lifts and specially-adapted beds.

Prosecuting on behalf of Trading Standards, Richard Adkinson outlined nine cases where the order had been breached, and in some cases "aggressive sales tactics" were used.

Nottingham County Court heard about the case of an 88-year-old woman who suffered from arthritis and blurred vision who was visited by a salesman for UK Mobility Plus in October 2010. She was persuaded to buy a rise and recline chair for £845 and made to hand over a £400 deposit.

The woman, from Lincolnshire, tried to cancel the order, but had to wait almost a year for a cheque to be sent back to her. When it did arrive, it was made out in her husband's name and bounced.

Cooney, a father-of-two, from Water Lane, Radcliffe-on-Trent, and Mould, of River Crescent, Waterside Way, Trent Park, have been ordered to pay £2,000 each in costs.

If they reoffend before December 2014, Judge Richard Inglis said they would be sent to prison.

Cooney admitted 36 breaches of the order, relating to five customers, and Mould pleaded guilty to 12 breaches, relating to four customers.

Since trading standards began investigating the company in January 2010 it has received more than 120 complaints from across the UK.

Judge Inglis said: "Your conduct affected elderly and infirm people in their own homes, places where they should feel safe.

"In just a few weeks of the court order, several breaches had occurred. These are the actions of people who do not really care about the undertakings they had been given.

"Should either of you come before me again I will send you to prison."

Defending Mould, Samuel Skinner said credit should be given for his client's guilty plea.

James Cleary, defending Cooney, said that all those who had complained had now received a full refund, and Cooney would no longer be involved in any business which sold products to the elderly.