The owner of a former Bedfordshire construction firm has been banned as a company director for 13 years after fraudulently obtaining a £50,000 covid loan.
The ban is just two years short of the maximum penalty of 15 years reserved for the most serious cases.
Fifty-year-old Nick Addison was the sole director of Addison’s Quality Ltd, a firm focused on dry lining and ceiling repairs. In 2020, he overstated his company’s turnover to secure a Covid Bounce Back Loan and used most of the funds for his personal use.
Bounce Back Loans allowed a business affected by the covid pandemic to borrow between £2,000 and up to 25% of the company turnover in the calendar year 2019, with a maximum loan of £50,000.
In his Bounce Back Loan application, Addison claimed that the turnover of his business in 2019 was £250,000. However, sales income into the company’s bank account for that year was just under £62,000, meaning it was eligible for a loan of around £15,500.
£50,000 was paid into Addison’s Quality’s account in May 2020 and within four days Addison had started to transfer some of the money into his personal account.
He did not provide evidence that the loan was used for the economic benefit of his business and did not respond to requests for further information from the Insolvency Service during its investigations.
Addison’s Quality went into liquidation in March 2021.
Addison, of Fieldfare, Leighton Buzzard, was handed the disqualification order at a hearing of the High Court in London on Tuesday 23 July.
He was also ordered to pay costs of £5,158.
Addison’s disqualification will begin on 13 August 2024.
