A DIRECTOR from an Ipswich-based timber company which went into liquidation in 2011 owing more than £700,000 has accepted a 10-year disqualification from acting as a company director.

Stephen Charles Aldous, who was a director of Forestsale Ltd, has been found by the Insolvency Service to have failed to keep adequate accounts and to have caused the company to trade in breach of VAT regulations.

Mr Aldous has now given an undertaking to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills that he will not act as a director of a limited company until April 2023.

Forestsale, which sold timber to local businesses and individuals, went into liquidation on June 15, 2011 owing creditors £706,460, of which £451,433 was owed to HM Revenue & Customs.

The Insolvency Service investigation launched an investigation which, it says, showed that, due to a lack of accounting records covering the period from June 30, 2009 to June 15, 2011, it was not possible to identify the recipients of cheques worth a total of £401,103.

Also unexplained was the true position of stock at the date of liquidation and how much VAT the company owed to HMRC.

Further investigation showed that the company deregistered for VAT at October 1, 2003, at a time when its turnover exceeded the registration threshold.

Following an inspection by HMRC, it was discovered that between October 1, 2003 and June 15, 2011 Forestsale had sales of close to £4million but failed to account for VAT owed on these sales, so that a tax debt of £450,000 went unpaid, the Insolvency Service added.