Landlords banned for abusing insolvency laws

Two pub landlords from Cheshire have been disqualified for abusing insolvency laws to avoid paying their debts.

Coard Hulse and Philip Dawson ran the Saracens Head pub in Lymm, Cheshire, between 2006 and 2016. Over the 10-year period, eight different companies were registered as the corporate entities to run the pub, which would usually trade for one year or less before going into liquidation.

When the companies became insolvent, the landlords would register a new company as, or acting as, directors, and carry on running the pub without making any significant changes to operations. The new company would not take on the previous company's debts, and so the landlords would avoid paying their creditors. The eight companies owed creditors an estimated £335,000.

The disqualifications started from 27 February 2018 and prevent Hulse and Dawson from directly or indirectly becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company until February 2025.

Robert Clarke, of the Insolvency Service, said: "The undertakings signed by Mr Hulse and Mr Dawson send a clear message to other company directors that if you fail to learn from previous company failures and run businesses where creditors lose out in this way, you will be investigated by the Insolvency Service. As a result, you will be stripped of the protection of limited liability for a lengthy period."

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