A SCAMMER left a woman without a set of wheels and £2500 worse off after a car exchange in a Clydebank council estate arranged via Gumtree.

Michael Hoyle and his victim agreed to swap their vehicles in a deal set up after the woman advertised her car for sale on the online classifieds website.

But it turned out that Hoyle had bought his car just a month earlier and had made only one payment towards the outstanding finance on the vehicle.

At a court hearing last week, the married dad-of-three was spared prison but ordered to pay his victim the full value of her old car.

A court hearing was told that the victim of his scam knew nothing about the outstanding finance until her “new” car was seized from outside her workplace.

And the woman contacted police after she saw her old car – which she had advertised for sale on Gumtree for £2500 – up for sale on the same site a few months later for £5000.

Hoyle, 23, appeared for sentencing at Dumbarton Sheriff Court after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to obtaining the woman’s vehicle by fraud in an exchange which took place in Lawmuir Crescent in Faifley on February 20, 2016.

Martina McGuigan, prosecuting, said: “In January 2016 the witness advertised her motor vehicle for sale on Gumtree for £2500.

“On February 19 the accused contacted her by text and asked if it was still for sale.

“She confirmed it was, and he asked if she would be willing to swap her vehicle for his.

“Arrangements were made for the following day and the accused met the witness and her two brothers, who were both mechanics, at the locus.

“The vehicle was checked and paperwork signed over. At no point did the accused state that there was any outstanding finance on the vehicle. They both left with their ‘new’ vehicles.

“Some time later, in April 2016, the witness was at work when she saw the vehicle she had taken on from the accused being placed on a recovery truck.

“She was advised that there was outstanding finance on the vehicle and that it was being repossessed. She was told there was no record of her owning the vehicle.”

Hoyle was told to carry out 295 hours of unpaid community work within 12 months and was placed under social workers’ supervision until October next year. He was also ordered to pay the victim of his scam £2500.