A Peterhead couple has been banned from running companies after knowingly taking customer orders they could not fulfil.
George and Williamina Hay were directors of furniture retailer DWH Trading Ltd, based out of their home in Peterhead.
They sold adjustable beds and chairs, mostly to elderly and vulnerable customers across the north-east.
The company began in 2021, and by April 2023, it was struggling financially, with only £6,000 in the bank.
There were 13 outstanding orders from customers who had paid £27,250. These orders remained unfulfilled by the time the business went bust.
Despite this, George and Williamina Hay allowed the company to take 55 more orders from April 2023 until it entered liquidation in October.
Of the 55 additional orders, 42 were never placed with the couple’s supplier.
In one example, a pensioner from Stonehaven paid a £2,000 deposit to the company for an adjustable chair that was never ordered from the manufacturer.
Similarly, a customer from a village in West Aberdeenshire paid a £9,000 deposit for furniture that was never delivered.
Orders totalling £97k were left unfulfilled
Customers from as far away as Dundee and Elgin also lost out.
The company owed a total of £143,340 to its creditors at the time of its liquidation.
The Insolvency Service found that at least £97,000 of this was owed to customers for stock that was never ordered.
The service stated that the couple must have known most of these orders would never be fulfilled.
George Hay, 65, of Greenacres Crescent, was disqualified as a company director for seven years.
Williamina Hay, 61, of the same address, was also banned for seven years.
Mike Smith, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “George and Williamina Hay fell significantly short of the standards expected of company directors and have been disqualified until March 2032.”
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