The company's directors, Simon Doherty and Paul Linfield, appeared at Mansfield Magistrates' Court last Wednesday in a prosecution brought by Nottinghamshire County Council's Trading Standards team.

They had given a leaflet advertising their business to a householder in Forest Town in November 2006.

The leaflet displayed the logo of the Guild of Master Craftsmen and contained a statement that the services it provided were part of a long term maintenance contract with the Highways Agency.

Both claims were false and the company was warned by trading standards officers in April last year.

Despite this the company arranged for the leaflet to be distributed three weeks later to 9,500 homes through the Mansfield and Ashfield Recorder.

The court was told that claims like this can give a company an unfair commercial advantage and can give the public a false sense of confidence in a business.

In mitigation, Digby Johnson said both men had been involved in the business for a long time.

As their company had developed they had relied on others to deal with advertising material and accepted they should have checked more carefully.

He said that if anyone contacted the company as a result of the leaflet in the newspaper, they would be told that it was incorrect and that the leaflet had been reprinted.

Magistrates fined both directors £600 and the company was also fined £600 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £680.

Coun Glynn Gilfoyle, Nottinghamshire County Council's cabinet member for community safety and partnerships, said: "We would urge people to use our Buy With Confidence scheme, which is a list of traders who have been vetted by Trading Standards officers.

"Members of the scheme have their credentials checked before they can use the Buy With Confidence logo, which gives peace of mind to consumers."

•For further information on the scheme contact Consumer Direct on 08454 040506 or visit www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk.