After failing to comply with HMRC and the First Tier Tribunal due to a litany of medical issues, John Firth, the former director and the designated member of a company and LLP, neither of which were named in the tribunal, nor was his business activity, dragged on the appeal process for eight years.

He argued for constant delays on medical grounds before HMRC and the tribunal lost patience.

Firth was appealing against the two personal liability notices (PLN) for a total of £7.4m for unpaid VAT under Kittel VAT fraud issued in 2016 on the grounds that the errors made by the organisations were not deliberate, and HMRC had failed to prove this.

The original penalties issued to the company and LLP were not appealed as both entities had gone bust and they were sent to the liquidators, before being issued to Firth.