Company head ran firm while disqualified from being a director

A construction firm head barred from managing companies has been threatened with prison.

Donald Ernest Roberts, from Plymouth, was banned from being a company director for four years in 2007 but managed another firm during this time.

He had been disqualified from being a company director for four years in 2007 after R.D. Surfacing went into liquidation with debts of over £123,000. He was disqualified again for 11 years after another firm, Roads and Drives Resurfacing Limited (RDRL), went into compulsory liquidation owing around £90,000 in 2009.  The court found that he, and not his daughter, was the real director of RDRL, in breach of his ban.

He was handed a six month suspended prison sentence and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work in September 2010.

Last week the court said he must pay £30,000 within six months or go to prison for 15 months. He was also ordered to pay costs of £2,757.