A BUSINESSMAN from Bacup has been banned from acting as a company director for four years.

The Insolvency Service decided that Phillip Graham Howard, of Walton Close, was unfit to run a company after his performance as director of Vision UK Manchester Ltd.

Howard, 41, ran the company, based in Cross Street, Manchester, with Barry Cogan, 41, of Far Hey Close, Radcliffe, Greater Manchester. Cogan was also disqualified from acting as a company director.

The company went into liquidation in 1999, owing an estimated £87,379 to their creditors.

The conduct which formed the basis of the disqualification was not disputed by either man. It included:

That from early 1999, the men should have known that the company was unable to pay its debts, yet the company continued trading, which put their creditors at risk.

That the company failed to submit any statutory VAT returns to HM Customs and Excise throughout its entire period of trading and that the company retained money which should have been paid to its creditors.