An East Lancashire business owner has been banned from being the director of a company for nine years after fraudulently claiming a Coronavirus Bounce Back Loan.

David Sykes, 47, who was a director of DPS Remedials Ltd, claimed a £50,000 loan from the Government that his firm wasn’t entitled to.

Sykes, of Laund Hey View, Haslingden, claimed for the money on June 25, 2020, despite his company being ineligible for that amount as it did not meet the turnover requirements for the scheme.

For the financial year 2018-19, his firm recorded an annual turnover of £135,518, which was signed off by Sykes in August of that year.

In 2019-20, professionally prepared accounts recorded an annual turnover of £122,362, and Sykes signed those accounts on November 27, 2020, but they were never filed.

On June 25, 2020 – during the first few months of the Covid-19 pandemic – he applied to his firm’s bank for a Coronavirus Bounce Back Loan of £50,000 on behalf of his company.

In the application form, Sykes declared his company’s turnover was £200,000 – almost £80,000 more than the real figure – and on July 3, 2020, his firm received the loan of £50,000.

Less than a year later, on April 29, 2021, DPS Remedials went into liquidation, with the balance on the bank account on the date of liquidation just £352.13.

As a result of this, the Insolvency Service has handed him a director disqualification for nine years, and the ban started on September 27.