A MORECAMBE man was left stunned after he bought a brand new mobile phone as a gift for his girlfriend only to discover that it had already been deactivated as fraudulent.

And Gavin Boyd's frustration turned to anger when the high street retailer from where he purchased the phone refused to replace it or offer a refund.

Gavin bought the phone as a birthday present for his girlfriend but when he got it home and tested it he found that it would not even switch on.

He took it back to the Argos store in the Arndale Centre and further enquiries revealed that the phone had been deactivated by the telecommunications company as it had previously been used fraudulently.

Gavin explained: "I spent £50 on a phone for my girlfriend as a birthday present, it wouldn't even switch on , so I took it back. I couldn't believe when they wouldn't offer me a new phone or my money back. I spent several hours in the store getting pretty worked up when I should have been having a great day celebrating my girlfriend's birthday.

"Their response ranged from 'you could have done it' so we have to get in touch with a loss prevention office to take it up with trading standards."

He added: "It's upset my girlfriend, it's stressed me out and if you buy goods that don't work you should get another one or your money back."

A spokesman for Argos said: "We're dealing with it and have no comment to make at the moment."