Brighouse pub directors banned for eight years

The Government’s Insolvency Service has imposed the ban on 60-year-old Shaun Fountain and 37-year-old Deborah Fountain – both of Bingley – after the directors failed to keep adequate books and records of their company Fountain’s Choice Limited.

Fountains’ Choice Limited, based on Birds Royd Lane, managed a number of pubs solely owned by Mr Fountain in Bradford and Leeds until the company entered into liquidation in November 2013, owing an estimated £213,081.

The company’s pubs in Leeds included The Regent Hotel on Kirkgate, the Three Legs on The Headrow, The Three Horshoes on Otley Road, and the Tommy Wass on Dewsbury Road.

Robert Clarke, Head of Company Investigation at the Insolvency Service said: “Directors have a duty to ensure that their companies maintain proper accounting records, and, following insolvency, deliver them to the office-holder in the interests of fairness and transparency.

“Without a full account of transactions it is impossible to determine whether a director has discharged his duties properly, or is using a lack of documentation as a cloak for impropriety,” added Mr Clarke.

An Insolvency Service spokesman said directors have duty to ensure their companies maintain proper accounting records, added: “The failure to ensure that adequate books and records of Fountain’s Choice Ltd were preserved and/or delivered up to the liquidator means that it has not been possible to explain the causes of failure of the company or accurately detail the acquisition and disposal of its assets or its financial position at any point in its trading life.

“It has also not been possible to determine the true nature and amount of the directors’ remuneration and whether such payments were treated properly for taxation purposes.”