A Kings Langley business owner claimed £45,000 from the government for a company that never traded.

Simon Gorgin, applied for a £45,000 Bounce Back Loan for his company, P3 Estates Ltd, in May 2020, stating that its turnover in 2019 had been £180,000.

A loan of £45,000 arrived in the company’s bank account the following day and three days later he transferred the full £45,000 to his own bank account.

Please support our independent journalism, and get access to exclusive news and sport stories, by signing up to a Watford Observer digital subscription today.

However, in April 2021 he applied to dissolve the company, and by December of the same year, when the company was dissolved, the full amount of the loan remained outstanding, prompting an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

It was revealed that P3 Estate Ltd had never traded.

Gorgin failed to notify the bank from which he had borrowed the money that he had applied to strike off the company – breaching a legal obligation for directors to notify creditors when dissolving their business.

The 63-year-old was sole director of the company, from its incorporation in April 2010 until it was dissolved in December 2021.

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted a disqualification undertaking as Gorgin did not dispute he had caused his company to receive Bounce Back Loans it was not entitled to.

He also did not dispute that he had falsely applied when not actively trading, failed to ensure the money was used for the economic benefit of the business, and failed to give notice to the bank of the dissolution of his business.

Gorgin, of Kings Langley, was banned from directly or indirectly becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court for 12 years.

The ban started on January 5, this year.

A compensation order is being recommended to recover the money.

Speaking on Gorgin’s case, and another relating to a business in Oldham, Peter Smith, from the insolvency service, said: “Bounce Back Loans were designed to help businesses to survive the pandemic.”

He added that Simon Gorgin “abused the scheme and took taxpayers’ money at a time when many businesses were in genuine need”.