It’s no secret that much of the data on the Companies House govt site is incorrect, incomplete or outdated. For insurers this can be a useful source of ID verification for Commercial, Business, Public Liability or Fleet insurance so it’s important that people/systems at Companies House are doing their job and verifying the data.
When several companies can be incorporated at one householder address (who has nothing to do with those companies) in a single day there is surely something deeply wrong with this antiquated system. This case also highlights the flaws in the Companies House database system which fails to carry out a simple check on banned director names being associated when new firms are listed, or strike off companies that have no director listed. Directors who fail to file for 1-3 years and then start a new company with family members acting as the `front man/woman’ are also being allowed to basically walk away from fines, creditor debts and more, without any future sanction.
Hard to see the point of Directors scanning their face in and setting up digital ID and tax accounts if basic checks are just not being carried out and acted upon immediately.
Woeful.
A disqualified company director has been jailed for running a football magazine business while banned.
Yorkshire businessman Peter Etherington was the man behind Professional Player, described on social media as “a luxury lifestyle magazine” read exclusively by professional footballers and their families.
Etherington admitted acting as a director of the company which produced the magazine, PP Global Media Limited, while disqualified for more than three years between April 2019 and October 2022.
The 68-year-old, who was declared bankrupt last month, had been banned as a company director on three separate occasions, with disqualifications in 2017, 2020 and 2022.
SORRY MATE, HE’S IN A COMA
Etherington, of Belle Vue, Ilkley, was due to appear before Bradford Magistrates’ Court in January this year, but the court was read an email, said to be from a family member, stating he had been placed in an induced coma.
However, the Insolvency Service contacted two local hospitals and found that he had not been a recent in-patient there.
He had also updated his Facebook profile and signed a legal document during the same period.
Etherington pleaded guilty in March and was due to be sentenced in May but missed a probation appointment, with the court told he does not own a phone.
He was jailed for 18-and-a-half months, five months of which were from an activated suspended sentence he had breached, when he appeared at Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday 5 August.
Etherington was also disqualified as a company director for a further 10 years, running through to August 2036.
David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:
Director disqualifications exist to protect the public from people who have shown they cannot be trusted in business. It is a criminal offence to ignore the bans and Peter Etherington is a persistent offender.
Etherington treated the disqualifications with utter contempt, hiding behind others while he continued to pull the strings. He ran the same business through one phoenix company after another, committing serious misconduct in the process.
The Insolvency Service is committed to improving director conduct and helping those in need of support. However, where individuals choose to ignore their obligations and operate outside the law, we will pursue them and seek the strongest possible sanctions.
FALSE DOCUMENTS
Etherington was first disqualified from acting as a company director for 11 years in February 2017, following misconduct at Etherington Media Ltd. This included providing false documents for the transfer of intellectual property rights for Professional Player to his new company for £1.
He was disqualified twice more for misconduct at 07 Media Limited – in September 2020, for ignoring his director ban with his company owing more than £55,000 in VAT, and again in June 2022 for acting as a director while disqualified.
The June 2022 disqualification saw him receive a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
Insolvency Service investigations found that Etherington exercised real control over PP Global Media Limited while banned as a company director between April 2019 and October 2022, despite numerous people being appointed as named directors during this period.
The company was originally incorporated as 09 Media Limited in February 2019. However, it changed its name the following month and registered its office address to Etherington’s home address.
Evidence gathered during the investigation showed that Etherington orchestrated the company’s key financial decisions, including arranging a Bounce Back Loan in May 2020 by approaching a named director to sign the application on the company’s behalf.
He also recruited a number of individuals to director roles, offering one a 5% shareholding and directorship at a meeting in July 2020, while retaining control over the company’s bank account and finances himself.
Witnesses, including former directors and business contacts, confirmed that Etherington directed staffing decisions, managed relationships with the company’s accountants and bookkeepers, negotiated advertising contracts, and approved significant expenditure.
One former director stated she had been “undermined and sidelined” in her role, and that Etherington had controlled the bank account and sanctioned payments without her knowledge or approval.
Bank records showed that between December 2018 and January 2023, Etherington received more than £100,000 from the company account. This was more than any named director received during the same period.
Etherington continued to manage the company’s affairs following the resignation of the final named director in February 2022.
At the time, there was no registered director at Companies House yet Etherington continued to organise workshops, pursue new business and negotiate the licensing of the PP Global brand.
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