Hundreds of off-road fans have been left fuming after a Sussex quadbike firm failed to deliver the goods.

Trading standards officers have received at least 1,500 complaints about Copthorne internet dealers Power Off Road which is being investigated for a series of breaches of trading laws.

Scores of people who were promised immediate delivery of quad bikes or mini motorbikes - paying up to £500 for the off-roaders - are still waiting for them to arrive.

Trading standards officers are trying to track down father and son owners Tarek and Adam Mowafi, of Herons Close, New Domewood, Copthorne, who are thought to have fled the country after they were ordered to appear in court.

The Mowafis, who run Power Off Road, R1Offroad and other businesses, have left hundreds of people out of pocket by delivering faulty goods, failing to deliver any goods or by sending refund cheques which have bounced.

The pair operated their business through a website which was closed down last month. Their head office is in Copthorne and their warehouse in East Grinstead.

In the past 18 months, Surrey County Council's trading standards service, which says the Mowafis are a "thorn in our side", have received complaints from disappointed customers from all over Britain who have not received their orders.

Helen Hubbard, of Elphick Road, Ringmer, and her ex-husband Ray bought a 125 Field Bike Pro for £300 in April through the Power Off Road website as a birthday present for their 17-year-old son Paul.

They were given a delivery date in June but the bike never turned up.

Mrs Hubbard said: "They said we would receive it in 26 days but Ray got nothing.

"When it didn't arrive they told Ray they had changed their suppliers and said the bike would be coming in August.

"The date came and went and nothing turned up.

"I got in touch with trading standards and my ex-husband wrote to the company to cancel the order but we have never had any money back."

Mr Hubbard, of The Belfry, Hailsham, said: "I have a list of emails where I have been in contact with them because I could never get them on the phone.

"They kept apologising and always said they had not delivered the bike because of somebody else's delay. I got fobbed off every time so I went for a refund but I never received it.

"My son found the company and they seemed genuine enough. But now my ex-wife and I have lost our money and we're not happy about it."

On February 27, an interim court order was obtained by Surrey County Council at Guildford County Court prohibiting Tarek Mowafi from breaching the Trade Descriptions Act 1968, Sale of Goods Act 1979, Business Names Act 1985 and Distance Selling Regulations 2000.

The same ban was placed on Adam Mowafi on August 18.

On October 31, evidence was filed at the county court alleging breaches of the order and undertaking. The men were ordered to appear in court on December 21 where an application to commit them to prison for contempt of court was to be sought.

But neither man turned up and they are believed to have fled to Egypt.

Surriya Subramaniam, complaints team manager at Surrey trading standards service, said: "They have been a thorn in our side for the past 18 months and we have tried as best we can to make them stop.

"When they appeared in court they came up with 101 excuses, including one where they said the ship carrying the bikes across from China had sunk."

The Mowafis were the subject of an investigation by the BBC programme Watchdog in October, when the family blamed the problems on a factory error which caused severe delays to deliveries.

Surrey trading standards is continuing legal action and a full committal hearing will take place at Guildford County Court on February 21 to 23.

The businesses are still being advertised in magazines and on the following websites, although some sites now display a message to say they are not currently trading:

www.poweroffroad.co.uk,
www.poweroffroad.com
www.scorpionoffroadbuggies.co.uk
www.scorpionoffroadbuggies.com
www.diablomotorsport.com
www.dirt-bike.info
www.dirtbikesales.info
www.pitbikeworld.co.uk
www.pitbikemag.co.uk
www.pitbikemag.com
www.quadbike.biz
www.minidirtbike.info