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Furniture seller Land of Leather and its chief executive have been fined thousands of pounds by the FSA for allowing its sales force to sell payment protection insurance on loans without effective monitoring or training in place.

The firm was fined £210,000 and Paul Briant, chief executive, was fined £14,000 for failing to properly oversee the sale of PPI by the firm.

The firm became authorised to sell PPI in May 2006, but it did not ensure that all of its sales force were fully trained to sell PPI until November 2006 and it continued to sell PPI in its 90 stores without any effective check on its sales force until February 2007.

The FSA said it fined Mr Briant even though he knew other senior managers and experienced compliance staff were addressing PPI issues because delegating authority for dealing with PPI does not mean delegating responsibility.