A MAN who owned a cut-price goods shop in Runcorn has been barred from setting up new companies for three years.

Michael Stuart Oakes was banned following the collapse of the Pocketwatch series of bargain household products shops in September 1995.

When it went into liquidation, Pocketwatch owed almost £433,000.

Oakes, from Formby, was banned for allowing Pocketwatch to continue after the point at which creditors could expect their money back.

He also allowed Pocketwatch to enter into a debenture to another of his companies - PW Imports - and had £10,000 of a loan paid back while the company was insolvement.

He also failed to ensure that accounts were prepared and filed with the Registrar of Companies.

Oakes had been a director of Pocketwatch for all but nine months of Pocketwatch's 30 month lifespan.

Oakes was barred from setting up new companies as a director for three years.

But the High Court's Liverpool District Registry allowed him to continue as a director of PW Imports - subject to conditions.

Department of Trade and Industry spokesman Paul Brady explained the court's apparent waiving of its own decision thus: "The company that he is already running he will be allowed to run with a very, very beady eye on him."

He said the aim of disqualification was not to punish wrongdoers, rather it was designed to protect the public.

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