A COMPANY boss from Burnley who left the taxman with a £108,000 loss has been banned from the boardroom for three-and-a-half years.

Investigators from the Insolvency Service found Samantha Hamer, 37, was a ‘de-facto’ director of Nelson-based Optimal Energy Solutions (OES) from around March 2010 before being officially appointed in 2012.

But despite the Lomeshaye industrial estate company having a turnover of more than £427,000, from April 2010 to June 2012, their liabilities to HM Revenues and Customs (HMRC) leapt from £18,726 to £108,666 in that period.

Hamer, of Stanbury Drive, Briercliffe, has now given an undertaking not to be involved in the directorship of any company until the start of June 2017.

The firm, which traded from October 2009, provided energy consumption testing services for residential and commercial properties, and has now gone into liquidation.

An Insolvency Service official said: “Under the directorship of her the debt owed by OES to HM RC grew from £18,726 at March 31, 2010, to £108,666 by 26 November 26, 2012, an increase of £89,940.

“In the same period the combined total for other creditors fell from £46,964 at March 31, 2010, to £38,424 by November 26, 2012, a fall of £8,540.”

An inquiry found that the bulk of the losses related to pay-as-you-earn tax and National Insurance contributions.

There was also an outstanding VAT bill of £23,625, which remained unpaid.

It was also found that under Hamer, Optimal Energy Solutions only paid out £5,240 for deductions, on £66,426 of PAYE and National Insurance, £28,464 of VAT, which had been taken from employees and clients, over the same period.