A CAR boot sale boss has been fined £6,000 for allowing counterfeit goods to be sold at his event.

George Banks, promoter of the car boot sale at Redcar Racecourse, was prosecuted following a council surveillance operation, launched after complaints of fake CDs, DVDs and videos.

In November 2003, police and trading standards officers raided the sale, seizing computer equipment and discs.

Banks, 54, of Ouston, Chester-le-Street, pleaded not guilty to the offence, but he was convicted of aiding and abetting trademark and copyright offences at Teesside Magistrates' Court on Friday.

Previously, he had launched a code of practice alongside trading standards officers pledging to police sales and report illegal trading.