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Mr Cosgrove had a disqualification order made against him, with effect from 24 October 2017, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, which prevents him from becoming directly or indirectly involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company for eight years.

Paul Cosgrove was the director of TBP & Son Ltd, a company trading as a provider of waste management services.

The company went into liquidation on 13 February 2015 owing £1,744,396 to creditors, of which £1,058,168 was owed to trade and expense creditors and £686,128 was owed to HM Revenue & Customs.

The unfit conduct that led to Mr Cosgrove receiving an order was that he failed to maintain, preserve or deliver up the books and records of the company which resulted in it not being possible to:

• determine the reason for company expenditure totaling £4.2 million
• explain what happened to assets totaling £5,242,845.
• determine the true level of VAT due to HMRC

Commenting on the disqualification, Martin Gitner, Deputy Head of Investigations with the Insolvency Service said:

Failure to deliver up the books and records of a company to the Liquidator which results in a loss to creditors and the public purse will be rigorously investigated by the Insolvency Service in liaison with HM Revenue & Customs.

Even where the director chooses not to engage with the investigation process, disqualification as a director is the likely outcome of such activity.

Notes to editors

Paul Cosgrove, date of birth March 1980 and he resides in Newark, Nottinghamshire.

TBP & Son Ltd (CRO No. 06896956) was incorporated on 6 May 2009. The company traded as a provider of waste management services. Mr Cosgrove was a director from 1 October 2013 to liquidation.

The Company went into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation on 13 February 2015 with an estimated deficiency of £1,744,397.

On 3 October 2017, a Disqualification Order was made against Mr Cosgrove on behalf of the Secretary of State, effective from 24 October 2017, for a period of 8 years .

The matters of unfitness, which Mr Cosgrove did not dispute, were that from 1 October 2013 to the date of liquidation on 13 February 2015, Paul Cosgrove failed to ensure that TBP & Son Limited (TBP) maintained and/or preserver adequate accounting records, or in the alternative he failed to deliver up to the Liquidator such records as were maintained. As a consequence it is not possible:

• to determine, in the absence of a complete purchase records, the reason for expenditure totalling £4,283,785 to a third party out of TBP’s bank account during the period 01 October 2013 to 13 February 2015 and in particular, to verify that this was legitimate company expenditure
• to establish whether all of TBP’s assets were disclosed in the statement of affairs and in particular to determine what, if any, stock and book debts were owned by the company at the date of liquidation, and the full and true value of any items transferred or otherwise disposed prior to liquidation, in that purchase invoices show that between 26 October 2013 and 2 December 2014, TBP purchased scrap metals for the sum of £5,004,477 against corresponding sales invoices in the sum of £2,133,430, resulting in scrap metal with an invoice value of £2,871,047 being unaccounted for; and purchase invoices show that between 26 October 2013 and 2 December 2014, TBP purchased waste paper and plastics for the sum of £2,634,076 against corresponding sales invoices in the sum of £262,278 resulting in waste paper & plastics with an invoice value of £2,371,798 being unaccounted for
• for HM Revenue & Customs to determine the true level of TBP’s liability in respect of Value Added Tax which resulted in HMRC raising officers assessments and surcharges against the company totalling £624,485 in respect of the period 1 April 2014 to 2 December 2014

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

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

The Insolvency Service, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), administers the insolvency regime, and aims to deliver and promote a range of investigation and enforcement activities both civil and criminal in nature, to support fair and open markets. We do this by effectively enforcing the statutory company and insolvency regimes, maintaining public confidence in those regimes and reducing the harm caused to victims of fraudulent activity and to the business community, including dealing with the disqualification of directors in corporate failures. Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

BEIS’ mission is to build a dynamic and competitive UK economy that works for all, in particular by creating the conditions for business success and promoting an open global economy. The Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions team contributes to this aim by taking action to deter fraud and to regulate the market. They investigate and prosecute a range of offences, primarily relating to personal or company insolvencies.

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 7596 6187

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

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Following on from the huge success of Association for Science and Discovery Centre’s (ASDC) Destination Space, which engaged over 730,000 children and adults with Tim Peake’s mission to the International Space Station, the UK Space Agency is supporting ASDC to create new space resources and to work with five UK science centres and museums to deliver space activities in 2018.

Destination Space is a national STEM programme created and run by ASDC and funded by the UK Space Agency. The first phase of this national programme ran from 2014 to 2017 and engaged, inspired and involved families with school-age children, school groups and teachers, and communities across the UK with the amazing stories, science and achievements of human spaceflight and Tim Peake’s Principia mission. Overall 733,017 children and adults took part in this ASDC programme in the first 15 months of delivery and many more continue to do so today.

This new six month programme builds on all this training, knowledge and enthusiasm for space science and exploration currently in science centres across the UK, and ensures delivery of this content continues well into the future. Specifically, this programme will focus on celebrating the science and engineering of the new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the new Mars rover for the ExoMars mission, and will introduce satellite applications and the plans to enable space launches from the UK. It also will develop content more widely that can be used by multiple partners and ASDC in future projects around space science.

The programme will invite applications in January from the twenty Science and Discovery Centres and Museums around the UK that delivered Destination Space 1 – from Eden in Cornwall to the Scottish Science Centres, and from W5 in Belfast to the Science Museum in London. Five centres will be selected, and they will be trained in March to run this cutting-edge schools and families programme across 2018 and into the future.

This programme will be directed and managed by the UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres who have considerable experience managing national strategic multi-partner science engagement programmes. The activities and events will be delivered in collaboration with science centres with expertise in engaging the public with space science, along with specialist expertise from researchers and UK Space Agency partners. This exciting new programme runs from 16 October 2017 until 31 March 2018.

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More than 950 Highways England Traffic Officers are being trained in life saving first aid, giving them enhanced skills which may be used to help casualties in need of urgent medical attention.

The traffic officers, who patrol England’s motorways and major A-roads 24 hours a day, are often first on the scene to help when drivers are in trouble.

Safer journeys across England’s motorways and A-roads is the top priority for Highways England, but if incidents do occur what happens in the first minutes following a road traffic collision can be crucial to the outcomes of those involved.

The first priority for Traffic Officers is making the scene safe for everyone, which may mean controlling moving traffic, moving vehicles and helping customers find a place of safety.

Once the scene is safe, Traffic Officers can then put the nationally recognised Driver First Assist training into practice. The training is also specific to the environment Traffic Officers work in, and signals a change in how our staff can provide direct assistance that can save lives in the crucial few minutes before the emergency services arrive.

Highways England Executive Director of Operations, Nick Harris, said:

I strongly feel that traffic officers should be able to perform lifesaving first aid to members of the public using our roads. Combining life-saving first aid training with key scene management will help our staff safely make a real difference for our customers.

By teaming up with Driver First Assist our traffic officers will receive the expert training needed for this important task.

The training began last month in the South East region and will be rolled out nationally.

The one-day course is the same training that is received by emergency services personnel and includes instructions in how to implement the recovery position and CPR, respond to a cardiac arrest and shock, and treat wounds and bleeding.

David Higginbottom, chief executive officer at Driver First Assist said:

Every day, victims of road traffic collisions die needlessly because individuals immediately at the scene lack the ability to administer basic first aid. The training we’re delivering to Traffic Officers will give them the skills to provide medical assistance to those in need, making a vital difference in those first crucial moments before the arrival of paramedics.

Driver First Assist is a not-for-profit organisation comprising drivers who have been trained to provide life-saving first aid and manage the scene at a road traffic collision, prior to the arrival of the emergency services. DFA has been created in partnership with and is supported by the Police, Ambulance and Fire and Rescue services.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

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The eight year bankruptcy restrictions undertaking from 16 November 2017 until 2025 follows an investigation by the Insolvency Service. Bankrupts are normally discharged after 12 months.

After a Bankruptcy Order was made against him on 16 June 2017 Mr Payne was interviewed by the Official Receiver and failed to disclose that he had disposed of assets in the lead up to the Bankruptcy Order being made. In March 2017 he received £99,073 (after payment of tax, fees and a mortgage) in consideration for the sale of shares in a limited company of which he was a director. Mr Payne used £58,000 of the proceeds to repay a debt to a relative, £10,000 to repay two creditors, and the remainder to pay for household expenses.

Commenting on the bankruptcy restriction, Gerard O’Hare, an Official Receiver at the Insolvency Service said:

Where a bankrupt has taken undue risks with creditors’ money, he should not expect to do so without repercussions, particularly when others suffer financial loss as a result.

’A bankruptcy restriction in these circumstances will serve to provide creditors with a degree of protection, and it will also act as a deterrent to the bankrupt not to act in a similar manner in the future.

Mr Payne was declared bankrupt on 16 June 2017 with a deficiency of £4,508,831. Mr Payne was interviewed at the Official Receiver’s office at which time he stated that between 2009 and 2016 he borrowed sums of money from various parties to fund building ventures, supplement his general income, fund repayments to existing debts and to support his long term gambling addiction.

The Official Receiver’s enquiries established that in February 2017 Mr Payne transferred his interest in a jointly owned property valued at £147,288 to a company of which he was a director. In March 2017 he sold his shares in the company for which he received £99,073. Mr Payne used £58,000 of the proceeds to repay a debt to a relative, £10,000 to repay two creditors, and the remainder to pay for household expenses. None of Mr Payne’s remaining creditors received any payments and remained outstanding upon his bankruptcy.

Notes to editors

Mr Russell Ian Payne is of Lincoln and his date of birth is January 1960. The Bankruptcy Order was made against him on a petition presented by Premium Credit Limited.

If the Official Receiver considers that the conduct of a bankrupt has been dishonest or blameworthy in some other way, he (or she) will report the facts to court and ask for a Bankruptcy Restrictions Order (BRO) to be made. The court will consider this report and any other evidence put before it, and will decide whether it should make a BRO. If it does, the bankrupt will be subject to certain restrictions for the period stated in the order. This can be from 2 to 15 years.

The bankrupt may instead agree to a Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking (BRU) which has the same effect as an order, but will mean that the matter does not go to court.

These are restrictions set out in insolvency law that the bankrupt is subject to until they are discharged from bankruptcy – normally 12 months and include that bankrupts:

• must disclose their status to a credit provider if they wish to get credit of more than £500
• who carry on business in a different name from the name in which they were made bankrupt, they must disclose to those they wish to do business with the name (or trading style) under which they were made bankrupt
• may not act as the director of a company nor take part in its promotion, formation or management unless they have a court’s permission to do so
• may not act as an insolvency practitioner, or as the receiver or manager of the property of a company on behalf of debenture holders.

Additionally, a person subject to a Bankruptcy Restrictions Order/Undertaking or a Debt Relief Restrictions Order/Undertaking, may not be a Member of Parliament in England or Wales.

All public enquiries concerning the affairs of the bankrupt should be made to: The Official Receiver, Level One, Apex Court, Nottingham, NG2 4LA.

The Insolvency Service, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), administers the insolvency regime, and aims to deliver and promote a range of investigation and enforcement activities both civil and criminal in nature, to support fair and open markets. We do this by effectively enforcing the statutory company and insolvency regimes, maintaining public confidence in those regimes and reducing the harm caused to victims of fraudulent activity and to the business community, including dealing with the disqualification of directors in corporate failures. Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

BEIS’ mission is to build a dynamic and competitive UK economy that works for all, in particular by creating the conditions for business success and promoting an open global economy. The Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions team contributes to this aim by taking action to deter fraud and to regulate the market. They investigate and prosecute a range of offences, primarily relating to personal or company insolvencies. The agency also authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, 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.

Media enquiries for this press release – 020 7596 6187

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

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The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has opened a new statutory inquiry into Grove Mountain, registered charity number 1162684, and has frozen the charity’s bank accounts. The investigation was opened on 11 August 2017.

The charity provides books to the Caribbean for educational purposes.

After concerns regarding the charity’s finances were raised with the Commission by a third party, the Commission examined the charity’s accounts for the financial year ending 1 April 2016. The Commission found that the majority of the charity’s income for the year was withdrawn in cash and that there was a pattern of large cash withdrawals being made shortly after donations or identical amounts had been deposited.

This raises regulatory concerns for the Commission regarding the charity’s financial controls and whether the cash withdrawals have been spent on meeting the charity’s objects. A statutory inquiry has therefore been opened to examine whether:

• the charity has been operating for exclusively charitable purposes for the public benefit in furtherance of its charitable objects
• the financial controls of the charity are adequate and its funds have been properly expended
• the trustees have complied with their legal duties in respect of the administration, governance and management of the charity

It is the Commission’s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were. Reports of previous inquiries by the Commission are available on GOV.UK.

The charity’s details can be viewed on the Commission’s online charity search tool.

Ends

PR 74/17

Notes to editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see our annual report.
2. Search for charities on our check charity tool.
3. Section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 gives the Commission the power to institute inquiries. The opening of an inquiry gives the Commission access to a range of investigative, protective and remedial legal powers.

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