A record 158 companies are on the latest deliberate defaulters list, owing HMRC £102m in tax and £36m in penalties, amounting to £138m, up from £101m last quarter, including a plastic surgeon, anaesthetist and a dentist, plus one accountant, numerous builders, a handful of couriers and a demolition company.

Top of the list was Hillsea Electric Limited, a wholesaler of machine tools, owned by a sole director Jozeph Donkersloot, 61, and now in liquidation after an HMRC winding up petition in March 2023.