ESMONDE Motors is seeking the return of over £270,000 worth of second hand cars sold to a motor trade dealer last December. Mr Michael Purcell of the Dublin"based car distributor said yesterday that they were seeking the return of the 36 cars as payment for the first two cars had been stopped by the buyer.

The cars are former rental cars belonging to Esmonde Motors' associate company Murrays Europcar.

They had been sold last month to a trade dealer who Esmonde Motors dealt with on a regular basis. Payment had been made by way of post dated cheques and the first two cheques had been stopped last Monday, he said.

Esmonde Motors had sought the return of the cars because they feared that the payment for the other 34 would be stopped.

Mr Purcell said that Esmonde Motors would be seeking a High Court injunction against the dealer today, to prevent him selling the cars on. However, he declined to identify the dealer.

He added that he had been in contact with the dealer's solicitor and informed them of the action he planned to take. Mr Purcell said that he would prefer to resolve the issue without going to court.

Esmonde Motors placed an advertisement in the Irish Times yesterday under the heading Missing Cars'. The advertisement listed the make, number plates and chassis number of the cars and said "the following batch of cars are missing but remain the property of Murrays Europcar".

The cars were all 93D and 94 D registrations. They included nine Toyota Carinas, eight Toyota Corollas, seven Ford Fiestas, five Nissan Micras, two Nissan Primeras, a Ford Seirra, a Ford Granada and a Mercedes.

Esmonde also advertised two vans as missing. The total value of the vehicles was £270,000, according to Mr Purcell.

Mr Purcell said that had been contacted by the Garda about the advertisement and had explained the situation to them. However he had not reported the cars as stolen, he said.