Tax-dodge landlord's pounds 76,000 debts

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Sept 12, 2008

A BANKRUPT pub landlord who fell foul of tax laws had debts of more than pounds 76,000.

Graham Arthur Ford, 42, was convicted in his absence yesterday after dodging tax officers and payments.

Consett magistrates heard Ford took over as owner of the Beamish Mary Inn near Stanley after previously going bankrupt.

Fearing his business was a risk, Revenue and Customs officers visited the pub and served him with a notice ordering him to pay a security for VAT payments.

Susan Hirst, prosecuting on behalf of the Inland Revenue, said: "When a person runs a business and registers VAT and they have previously been rendered bankrupt, Revenue and Customs can serve a notice for an amount to be paid as security to ensure they receive the VAT money.

"If they don't pay that security and continue to trade they are committing a criminal offence."

After meeting with the insolvency team, Ford was given the option of handing over pounds 9,824 if he paid his VAT quarterly or pounds 6,549 if he paid it monthly.

Instead of paying up, Ford, who didn't appeal against the action, ignored the notice and letters from the team.

In December last year officers went back to the pub to check his records and discovered he'd continued trading. Examples of his dealings were taken from three weeks in November when Ford had received almost pounds 10,000 in takings from the bar and accommodation.

Miss Hirst added: "His current VAT liability is pounds 23,774, however he no longer operates the pub. He has other outstanding liabilities of pounds 53,000, but some of this may have since been paid off."

Sentencing Ford, whose last known address was the pub in No Place, Stanley, magistrates fined him pounds 350 for each of the three offences and ordered him to pay costs of pounds 100 and a pounds 15 surcharge. The pub now has a new proprietor.

CAPTION(S):

BANKRUPT: Graham Ford