Family members disqualified in tax case

THREE members of the same family have been banned from running businesses for up to nine years.

Husband and wife Lance and Heather Shepherd ran Preston alarm company Shepherd Security with their son James.

An investigation by the Insolvency Service found they failed to pay tax worth £186,000 and Mrs Shepherd was acting as a director while an undischarged bankrupt.

She has been banned for nine years, while her husband faces a four year ban. Their son received a two-and-a-half year ban.

They set up the company in 2008, which went into voluntary liquidation in 2010, after two previous business failures. Shepherd Security Systems was launched in 2003 and traded until 2007 when it went into administration. Shepherd Security (UK) operated from January 2007 to May 2008 when it went into voluntary liquidation.

Robert Clarke, of the Insolvency Service’s investigations branch, said: “A bankrupt who continues to act as a director when explicitly restricted from doing so, shows a total disregard for the insolvency regime, creditors and the business community. What’s more those directors who fail to pay their taxes are gaining an unfair advantage over other businesses and cheating the government.

“The disqualifications of this family for a total of 15 and a half years sends a clear message to others that if they act as directors when not allowed to do so or fail to pay their taxes, then they will be investigated by the Insolvency Service and removed from the business environment.”