Directors fined £20,000
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A STOKE-BASED haulage director and his company secretary wife have pleaded guilty to offences under the VAT Act and been ordered to pay more than £20,000 each to HM Revenue & Customs. Glenn and Susan Lovatt ran GB Lovatt (Transport) until administrators were appointed in November 2011.
The administrators’ report says that HMRC issued a winding-up petition because the company, which ran 23 vehicles nationwide and employed 32 people, had fallen into arrears with the filing of accounts and submission of PAYE and VAT returns and it estimated a debt to it of £451,000.
The Lovatts admitted to 10 offences under the act at North Staffordshire Magistrates’ Court on Friday 13 April, and asked for 474 other offences to be taken into consideration. They were each fined £1,000 and ordered to pay compensation to HMRC of £20,670.
Administrators say that before their appointment, the firm had ceased to trade and that employees were transferred to a subsidiary company, Lovatt Transport. The vehicles were sold to a third party and then rented back to the subsidiary. Vosa records show that Lovatt Transport’s O-licence application is still in progress.