Two directors of an advertising agency which failed to provide agreed services and collapsed owing HMRC £335,000 have been disqualified for a total of nine and a half years following an Insolvency Service investigation
Garry O’Loughlin and Nicola Hobson ran Club Media Systems Ltd based in Blackpool, which provided digital advertising services. The company was set up in 2007 and was placed into liquidation in March 2012 on a petition filed by HMRC, when it had an estimated deficiency of £739,179.
The Insolvency Service investigation found that O’Loughlin and Hobson had entered into agreements with customers for advertising services it was unable to provide, resulting in these customers being owed at least £22,715 at the date of liquidation.
They had also failed to ensure that Club Media Systems Ltd paid tax owing to HMRC, with the result that £335,659 was outstanding. This failure to pay tax liabilities put Club Media Systems in breach of a Company Voluntary Arrangement it had entered in to.
O’Loughlin has been disqualified from acting as a company director for six years, while Hobson’s disqualification is for three and a half years.
Robert Clarke, group leader of insolvent investigations north at the Insolvency Service, said: ‘These two directors entered into agreements which they knew the company could not fulfil, to the detriment of its customers, and failed to deal with its tax affairs, resulting in this privilege being withdrawn.’
