OREANDA-NEWS. June 29, 2015. The investigation found that Mr Crosthwaite continued to act as a director of UK Recruitment Staff Ltd, despite resigning and appointing another person as director. The fellow director, Darren Reece Ashford, has also been disqualified.

Both Mr Crosthwaite,42, and Mr Ashford,49, have given undertakings to the Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills not to act as a director for periods of 11 and 5 years respectively.

The disqualification means that Mr Crosthwaite and Mr Ashford may not be a director of a company or be involved in the management of a company in any way for the duration of their respective disqualifications.

The investigation also discovered that despite resigning as a director of the company on 1 December 2012, Mr Crosthwaite, of Wortley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, continued to act as a director in controlling the affairs of the company, including being the sole person in charge of the company bank account and dealing with HM Revenue & Customs. Darren Reece Ashford, also of Wortley, Leeds, West Yorkshire was appointed a director of UK Recruitment Staff Ltd on 15 May 2012 following Mr Crosthwaite’s resignation but allowed Mr Crosthwaite to continue to run the business.

Mr Crosthwaite had previously given an undertaking to the Secretary of State in the case of Network Securities UK Ltd for making payments to himself and associated businesses of over £370,000 at a time when creditors were not being made to creditors, principally HMRC. Mr Crosthwaite’s disqualification was effective from 30th November 2012 to 29th November 2018

Both Mr Crosthwaite and Mr Ashford also allowed the company to trade to the detriment of HMRC, in that during the 13 months of the company’s trading no payments were made to HMRC in respect of PAYE taxation and National Insurance Contributions. At the date of liquidation, 13 April 2013, HMRC were owed a total of over £100,000 in respect of Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and National Insurance Contributions (NIC), whilst the directors and their associates received more than £107,000.

Robert Clarke, Group Leader of Insolvent Investigations North, which is part of The Insolvency Service said:

Directors who ignore disqualification undertakings that they have previously given, and those who provide cover for them, to allow them to continue to run limited companies will be vigorously pursued by The insolvency Service. The length of the undertakings in this case sends a clear message to the business community that such actions will not be tolerated.

Notes to editors

UK Recruitment Staff Ltd (Company Registration No. 07913072) was placed into creditors’ voluntary liquidation (CVL) on 13 April 2013 with a deficiency as regards creditors of £162,981. The company traded as recruitment consultants to the haulage and security industries from Tong Road, Leeds.

Glen Dean Crosthwaite’s date of birth is 17 May 1973.

Darren Reece Ashford’s date of birth is 16 May 1966.

The Secretary of State accepted an undertaking from Glen Crostwaite that he would not act as a director for a period of 11 years on 15 April 2015. The disqualification came into effect on 6 May 2015.

The Secretary of State accepted an undertaking from Darren Ashford that he would not act as a director for a period of 5 years on 2 March 2015. The disqualification came into effect on 23 March 2015.

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

  • act as a director of a company
  • take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
  • be a receiver of a company’s property

In addition that person cannot act as an insolvency practitioner and there are many other restrictions are placed on disqualified directors by other regulations.

Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.

Further information on director disqualifications and restrictions is available.

The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.