Bankrupt furniture maker faces eight year ban for acting as director

A Stockport furniture boss has been banned for eight years after declaring bankruptcy before starting a new company with a prohibited name.

According to officials, Allan Barke had been director of Cheshire Fitted Furniture Limited from its incorporation in November 2014 until September 2015.

The furniture company traded until April 2016 when it was wound up and went into voluntary liquidation.

Cheshire Fitted Furniture’s liquidation, however, triggered an investigation by the Insolvency Service, which found that Barke had been declared bankrupt in September 2015 following a petition by the liquidators of AB Joinery Limited, a previous company he was director of.

As part of his bankruptcy, Barke was “banned from acting as a company director” and after Cheshire Fitted Furniture Limited went into liquidation, the furniture maker was not allowed to form a company with a similar name.

The investigation, however, found Barke had “breached his restrictions” when it was uncovered in June 2016, the furniture maker was trading under a company using the name CFF Joinery & Furniture, a name prohibited under the terms of the liquidation.

He had also continued to act as sole director for the new company, CFF Joinery and Furniture, after being declared bankrupt. 

Barke was charged with one count of acting as the director of Cheshire Fitted Furniture Limited when he was disqualified from doing so due to bankruptcy and one count of continuing to use a proscribed company name after the business entered liquidation in April 2016.

Julie Barnes, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, who conducted the investigation said: “Allan Barke would have known he was banned from running a company, especially one with a similar sounding name to the company wound-up.

“The furniture maker, however, flagrantly breached his ban when he started a new company offering similar services.”