The boss of a Cambridgeshire construction company has been banned from being a director for seven years after not submitting the company's books and records to the liquidators and failing to pay tax. The disqualification follows an investigation by the Insolvency Service (IS).

Peterborough-based Gerald Channing was the director of Trenchright Civils which went into liquidation in February 2011 owing over £500,000 to creditors. The last annual accounts filed by the company were for the year ending 31 August 2008.

The IS investigation found that Channing had not kept proper records from 1 September 2008 until the company's liquidation over two years later. In addition, there were no records to account for more than £1m in cash withdrawals from the company during the period.

The investigation also showed that the company had unpaid taxes dating back to April 2009 - and had not paid any tax at all since February 2010. At liquidation, it owed £424,189 to HMRC.

Mark Bruce, an IS chief examiner, said: 'This investigation found that very significant assets were missing and there were expenses that could not be explained adequately to the liquidators. This prevented the liquidators from doing their job properly for the creditors. The taxpayers have also lost out from the director's failure to pay taxes.'