Plymouth Property Developer Banned For 8 Years Over Account Record Doubts

Plymouth Property Developer Banned For 8 Years Over Account Record Doubts

By Lucy Caulkett

A successful property developer has been banned for 8 years following failure to  maintain accounting records.

David John Trathen, 64, was the director of Rocco Primrose Limited (RPL) which developed housing on an old school site formerly owned by Plymouth City Council.

Formerly known as Trathen Lewis Limited, RPL was first incorporated in August 2013 and traded for around three and a half years before entering into creditors’ voluntary liquidation in April 2017 with an estimated deficiency of £416,353. The firm had been involved in turning the disused former home of West Park Primary School into a housing scheme.

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Independent insolvency practitioners were appointed to wind up the company but their job was made difficult by the fact that David Trathen failed to deliver adequate accounting records showing the true nature of the company’s business.

Further investigations by the Insolvency Service found that from at least June 2016 to the end of the business in February 2017, David Trathen failed to ensure that RPL maintained adequate accounting records. This meant it was impossible to account for various payments out of the business, explain the source of credits to RPL’s bank account, what RPL owed to HMRC in taxes, as well as determining the amount of remuneration, if any, received by David Trathen. Precisely why Trathen did not fully co-operate with the investigations is unclear, however reporters from Plymouth who alerted us to the story said Trathen was a very successful man who had suffered a stroke.

William Telford from The Plymouth Herald told The Eye Of Media.Com: ”Trathen was a successful businessman but suffered a stroke a few years ago. It is difficult to establish why this happened, he did not want to discuss the ban which he has accepted. It was difficult to tell whether it was because he suffers from a speech impediment as a result of the stroke or because he just did not want to discuss it at all”.

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Trathen was the motivator behind construction of one of Plymouth’s first purpose-built student blocks, and he also masterminded the creation of the imposing Mayfair House, in Plymouth’s Regent Street, and Premier Inn’s Exeter City Centre Hotel.Crescent Point will welcome students in September 2018

Pic Credits: Penny Cross

In one example, investigators were unable to account for at least £141,000 of RPL’s income, generated from the sale of 20 building plots of land now known as Lilford Gardens – the former site of West Park Primary School in Wanstead Grove.

Investigators cited another example in which they could not explain why there had been more than £407,000 worth of expenditure from RPL’s bank account and whether this related to genuine company expenses. Lack  of adequate accounting records made it impossible for investigators to determine whether David Trathen’s statement of affairs in the liquidation was accurate and the real reason why RPL failed as a business. Although banned for 8 years, mr Trathen’s ill state means it is very unlikely his entrepreneurial skills will ever be seen again. Trathen has a talented businessman and property developer, but it appears his years in that field are over.

As a result of all the problems with investigations, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from David Trathen, banning from running companies, both directly and indirectly, for 8 years. Mr Trathen was the brains behind the creation of the imposing Mayfair House, in Plymouth’s Regent Street, and Premier Inn’s Exeter City Centre Hotel.

Dave Elliott, Head of Insolvent Investigations (Midlands & West) for the Insolvency Service said:”Directors have a duty to ensure that companies maintain proper accounting records, and, following insolvency, deliver them to the office-holder.Without such records, it is not possible to determine whether or not a director has discharged his duties properly, or is using a lack of documentation as a cloak for other wrongdoing”.

 

Pic Credits: Plymouth Live

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