THE director of a former vehicle recovery business was disqualified from being a company director after an investigation.

Timothy Patrick Lynch, 53, was banned from running a company for eight years for failing to keep proper books and records.

An investigation by the Insolvency Service also found Mr Lynch, who was a director at TJ Recovery Limited, in Greenbank Road, Blackburn, failed to satisfactorily account for the company’s financial dealings.

Robert Clarke, head of Insolvent Investigations North, said: “Directors of limited companies have a clear, statutory obligat-ion to make sure they maintain full and accur-ate records. Without these it is impossible to verify what has happened to company funds, account for its assets, or establish whether directors have act- ed properly.

“Directors cannot hide behind accounting fail-ures to cover up their act-ions, and the Insolvency Service will take robust action against those who fail to maintain the stan-dards required.”

The investigation found that, although the com-pany’s accounts showed turnover of about £36,000, funds totalling £254,000 had passed through its bank account, with about £83,000 of that expend-iture being unexplained.

Mr Lynch also could not explain how assets, with a value of almost £100,000, came to be tran-sferred to his wife, and then sold by her for £85,000.

It was also established that, although wages of more than £400,000 had been paid out, the comp-any made no PAYE tax payments in 2010 to 2012, and could not account for VAT.

TJ Recovery Limited traded as a breakdown recovery firm and went into liquidation on April 5, 2012, with outstanding debts estimated at £109,485.