Minister of State Harriett Baldwin delivered the UK statement at the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit at the UN General Assembly in New York on 24 September 2018.

The assembled representatives of governments and civil society adopted a political declaration at the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit, committing to redoubling efforts to build a just, peaceful, prosperous, inclusive, and fair world.

At around 14:00 hrs on Friday 7 September 2018, a Thameslink train service, travelling from St Albans City to Sutton, made its scheduled stop at Elstree & Borehamwood station. The doors opened and a female passenger, with a walking frame and luggage, started to board the train; the passenger was accompanied by her dog. While the passenger was boarding the train, and having placed her luggage on it, the doors closed and the train departed. The passenger and her dog were left on the platform, but the dog’s lead was trapped in the train doors. The dog was dragged by the lead, onto the track and was subsequently found, deceased, in a tunnel a short distance from the station.

The passenger was uninjured, although the accident caused her very considerable distress.

The RAIB’s investigation will determine the sequence of events and consider:

• the processes and procedures used for the dispatch of trains on the Thameslink route
• the ability of the train doors to detect trapped objects
• systems used by Govia Thameslink Railway to ensure the competence of drivers when operating and dispatching trains on this route
• the systems and displays made available to train drivers which allow them to determine when it is safe to close train doors and dispatch a train from a station
• any previous similar incidents
• any other relevant underlying management factors

Our investigation is independent of any investigation by the railway industry or by the industry’s regulator, the Office of Rail and Road.

We will publish our findings, including any safety recommendations, at the conclusion of our investigation; these will be available on our RAIB website.

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On 4 January 2016 John Thomas Hanbury was appointed a director of Crownsbury Limited, before the company operated a payroll processing bureau, which it had not done prior to his appointment.

However, the company entered into Administration on 18 July 2016 and the Insolvency Service’s subsequent investigation found that between 4 January and 18 July 2016, John Hanbury failed to ensure Crownsbury maintained and/or preserved adequate accounting records.

He also failed to deliver adequate accounting records to the Joint Administrators when required to do so. As a result, it has not been possible to verify what the company’s income and expenditure was after 3 May 2016 – the date its bank account was closed.

Further investigations found that it was not possible to determine the reason for receipts totalling £7,849 received between 24 March 2016 and 8 April 2016 into Crownsbury’s bank account from a connected company, of which John Hanbury is a director, as well as determining the reason for a receipt of £520,000 into Crownsbury’s bank account on 15 April 2016.

There were numerous other payments out of the company’s bank account for which no proper explanation or verification could be found.

As a result, on 7 August 2018, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from John Hanbury, after he did not dispute that he failed to ensure the company maintained and/or preserved, or alternatively following administration, deliver up adequate accounting records to the Joint Administrators.

His ban is effective from 28 August 2018 and lasts for 7 years.

Anthea Simpson, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:

Directors have a duty to ensure their companies maintain proper accounting records, and, following insolvency, deliver them to the office-holder in the interests of fairness and transparency.

Without a full account of transactions it is impossible to determine whether a director has discharged his duties properly, or is using a lack of documentation as a cloak for impropriety.

John Thomas Hanbury is of Shipley, West Yorkshire and his date of birth is June 1958.

Crownsbury Limited was incorporated on 30 March 2001 (Company Reg no. 04191092).

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

• act as a director of a company
• take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
• be a receiver of a company’s property

Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.

Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions.

The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

Media enquiries for this press release – 020 7674 6910 or 020 7596 6187

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Speech by Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency
Royal Society of Arts, 24 September 2018