The boss of a collapsed Essex construction firm that failed to complete more than £300,000 of work has been banned as a director for eight years.
The Insolvency Service announced yesterday (21 October) that Samantha Fairweather had been barred with immediate effect, after taking money as a deposit for work that was never finished.
Fairweather, 53, of Maitland Road, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex was the sole director of Fairweather Construction Ltd.
In a statement, the Insolvency Service said the firm called in an insolvency practitioner in April 2022.
It said that at that point more than £150,000 had been taken in deposits from homeowners for building work including installation of new windows or conservatories.
Fairweather Construction Ltd took a further £177,900 in payments for building projects it did not complete before it was liquidated in the autumn of 2022.
According to the Insolvency Service, Fairweather also caused her company to breach the Covid Bounce Back Loan Scheme in May 2020. It claimed she used £11,000 of £50,000 she obtained to repay a director’s loan.
The payment was not for the economic benefit of the business as set out under the rules of the scheme.
Fairweather Construction Ltd had promoted itself as a home improvement specialist operating around Essex and Hertfordshire but also pitched for work elsewhere, the Insolvency Service stated.
One couple from south London paid Fairweather Construction £12,500 for new windows in July 2022, but the Insolvency Service said the order was never placed with the manufacturer.
The firm entered liquidation in September 2022 with liabilities of more than £700,000 – including more than £100,000 in unpaid tax.
A statement of affairs document on the Companies House website, signed by Fairweather on 22 September that year, described £434,438 owed to trade creditors.
Fairweather had been the sole director since the firm was established in December 2014. Its registered office address was in Heskin, Lancashire.
Neil North, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “Members of the public need protection from this kind of activity which is why Fairweather will no longer be able to act as a company director until October 2032.”
