Gwyn Merion Roberts, director of Menai Vehicle Solutions Limited, took money from customers but then failed to provide the vehicles that had been paid for and also failed to pay customers for vehicles sold on their behalf.

The company went into liquidation on 21 October 2015 owing at least £1.25m to customers and other creditors.

The Insolvency Service’s investigation concluded that Menai sold new vehicles for less than the cost incurred by the company in purchasing them from dealers. This encouraged new custom but inevitably resulted in Menai becoming unable to meet its liabilities, resulting in customer deposits being used to finance the purchase of vehicles for older customers.

This resulted in losses to at least 40 members of the public totalling at least £969,011.

Roberts provided banking documents to customers, showing payments had been instructed to car dealers for the purchase of the vehicle they had ordered, only to subsequently revoke the instruction.

Robert Clarke, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: ‘This is an unfortunate case in which members of the public suffered significant losses as a consequence of the inexcusable financial practices adopted by Mr Roberts.

‘The lengthy period of disqualification is testament to how seriously the Insolvency Service views this misconduct.’