7:35 am, May 9, 2025
A Kent car dealer has been banned from running any company for more than a decade after he was found to have fraudulently claimed a Covid Bounce Back during the pandemic.
Josesph Harrison, of South East Commercials Ltd has been disqualified from serving as a company director for 12 years, following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.
The government department found that the 38-year-old claimed a £45,000 Covid loan in June 2020 before successfully applying for the same amount via the scheme just two months later.
The investigation found that the second application was unlawful, with Harrison declaring the June loan would be his ‘his first and only application’.
At a hearing at the High Court in London on April 15, Harrison was disqualified from being a director for 12 years, effective from May 6.
He was also ordered to repay the entire £38,295 he received in the second loan.
Reacting to the verdict, Ann Oliver, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: ‘Joseph Harrison applied for and received a second Covid loan when he was only entitled to one for his car sales business.
‘A 12-year ban is a significant disqualification and demonstrates the seriousness of his actions.
‘The Insolvency Service is committed to ensuring those who abused this scheme – which was designed to benefit the economy and help small businesses – are brought to justice.’
During the hearing, Harrison’s official address was given as Workshop Cottages, Wrotham, Kent, although he told the court that he is currently living in Spain.
Judges heard that he had operated as a sole trader for a number of years before South East Commercials Ltd was incorporated via Companies House in May 2020.
The company sold used cars and light motor vehicles, such as motorcycles with Harrison claiming that the first Bounce Back loan application was made by a third party on his behalf.
He also stated that he did not know that only one successful loan application was permitted under the scheme.
In its own submissions The Insolvency Service said it could not find any evidence of a third party’s involvement and that Harrison signed the declaration on his company’s second loan application confirming that this was his first and only application.
After hearing all the evidence, the court disqualified for 12 years under sections 6 and 15A of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.
