Classic car dealer banned for 12 years | ClassicCarsForSale.co.uk
A classic car dealer who sold six cars without their owners’ permission has been banned from being a company director for 12 years.
The Insolvency Service said that Andrew Stansfield, who formerly ran Lancashire-based Mercedes specialist Classic Benz Limited, has been banned from acting as a company director until at least 2025 after an investigation found that he sold cars without the knowledge or consent of their owners.
Claire Entwistle, lead investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: “The Insolvency Service will rigorously pursue company directors who deliberately breach the trust of customers and seek to personally gain from such action. Fair treatment of customers and creditors is essential for business confidence which is, in turn, essential for economic growth.
“Failure to keep proper records, particularly when a company is entering financial difficulty, is a serious matter and the law rightly treats it as such.”
The investigation, which focused on the Westby firm’s activities between March 2010 and April 2011, when it went into liquidation, found that Classic Benz Limited had sold at least seven cars belonging to customers as part of sale brokerage agreements, and had failed to pass on the proceeds, which totaled at least £129,250 to the cars’ owners.
While the investigation also revealed that Stansfield benefitted from the proceeds of at least one of the transactions, it was impossible to verify whether he benefitted from the other six because the transactions occurred after Classic Benz Limited had been struck off the Companies Register, and Stansfield was unable to provide accounting records to the liquidators.
CCW attempted to speak to Stansfield with regards the Insolvency Service’s findings, but he was unavailable for comment before this week’s edition went to press.
The Insolvency Service added that Stansfield, 53, of Poulton-le-Fylde, has given an undertaking not to manage or control a company, or be a director of one, until at least 2025.
Classic Benz was placed into liquidation on 28 April 2011 with an estimated debt of £194,023.
A classic car dealer who sold six cars without their owners’ permission has been banned from being a company director for 12 years.
The Insolvency Service said that Andrew Stansfield, who formerly ran Lancashire-based Mercedes specialist Classic Benz Limited, has been banned from acting as a company director until at least 2025 after an investigation found that he sold cars without the knowledge or consent of their owners.
Claire Entwistle, lead investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: “The Insolvency Service will rigorously pursue company directors who deliberately breach the trust of customers and seek to personally gain from such action. Fair treatment of customers and creditors is essential for business confidence which is, in turn, essential for economic growth.
“Failure to keep proper records, particularly when a company is entering financial difficulty, is a serious matter and the law rightly treats it as such.”
The investigation, which focused on the Westby firm’s activities between March 2010 and April 2011, when it went into liquidation, found that Classic Benz Limited had sold at least seven cars belonging to customers as part of sale brokerage agreements, and had failed to pass on the proceeds, which totaled at least £129,250 to the cars’ owners.
While the investigation also revealed that Stansfield benefitted from the proceeds of at least one of the transactions, it was impossible to verify whether he benefitted from the other six because the transactions occurred after Classic Benz Limited had been struck off the Companies Register, and Stansfield was unable to provide accounting records to the liquidators.
CCW attempted to speak to Stansfield with regards the Insolvency Service’s findings, but he was unavailable for comment before this week’s edition went to press.
The Insolvency Service added that Stansfield, 53, of Poulton-le-Fylde, has given an undertaking not to manage or control a company, or be a director of one, until at least 2025.
Classic Benz was placed into liquidation on 28 April 2011 with an estimated debt of £194,023.
