HAULAGE boss Anthony Moss has been banned from running a firm for four years after his business failed with debts of £485,000.Mr Moss, 55, a director of a Felixstowe freight transport business, has given an undertaking not to hold directorships or take any part in company management.

HAULAGE boss Anthony Moss has been banned from running a firm for four years after his business failed with debts of £485,000.

Mr Moss, 55, a director of a Felixstowe freight transport business, has given an undertaking not to hold directorships or take any part in company management.

The undertaking followed his conduct as a director of Freelance Transport Services Limited which operated from premises at Hodgkinson Road, Felixstowe, just outside the port.

The firm was placed into voluntary liquidation in November 2001 with estimated debts of £485,000 owed to creditors.

Mr Moss, of Brandeston, near Framlingham, is now prevented from being a director of a company or in any way being concerned or taking part in the promotion, formation or management of a business until 2008.

The undertaking was agreed after a full investigation by the Insolvency Service, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

Matters of unfit conduct, not disputed by Mr Moss, were that between February 2001 and the date of liquidation in November that year, he caused Freelance to trade to the detriment of its creditors, including Anglia Bulk Carriers Limited, a company associated by common directors.

During this period the extent of its total liabilities increased from £821,110 to at least £970,313.

A court can disqualify directors from directorships and involvement in the management of companies for between two and 15 years for unfit conduct.

If a director breaches a Disqualification Order they can be prosecuted and may be punished by a fine, a prison sentence of up to two years, or both, and may be made personally liable for the company debts.

Directors who accept that their conduct is unfit can give an undertaking to the Secretary of State that they will not become involved as a director or in the management of a limited company for an agreed period of between two and 15 years.

This avoids a court process, but the penalties for breach of an undertaking are the same as for breach of a court order.

Members of the public who think that they know of any person who is acting in breach of a Disqualification Order or undertaking should report that person's details to The Insolvency Service's Disqualified Directors Hotline on 0845 601 3546.

WEBLINK: www.insolvency.gov.uk