A NORTH Yorkshire man whose printing business crashed with debts of more than £1.3 million has agreed to a four-year ban on holding any directorships or taking part in company managements.

Martin David Baker, of Main Street, Riccall, near Selby, who was director of The Sphere Print Group Limited, of Pontefract, has given this undertaking to the Department of Trade and Industry's Insolvency Service.

Sphere, which operated from premises at Monkhill Lane and King Street, Pontefract, was placed into voluntary liquidation on December 3, 1999. Mr Baker was said to have allowed the ailing Sphere to provide a guarantee and indemnity to a factoring company in respect of the obligations of Century Print Ltd, of which he was also a director.

The trouble was that he knew, or ought to have known, that Sphere was insolvent and the £50,000 guarantee was a potential loss to the liquidators and therefore Sphere's creditors.

When Century was later unable to fulfil its financial obligations the factoring company called in the £50,000 guarantee which was transferred from Sphere's account to Century's. Some of these funds were ultimately recovered after legal action by the liquidator of Sphere. Mr Baker was also found to be acting in a manner unfit for a director by allowing Sphere to enter into an agreement to acquire a substantial part of Carton Services Printing Company so that the nature of the assets and liabilities assumed by Sphere from Carton was unclear.

The ban means that Mr Baker will also be unable to take part in promoting, forming or managing a company for the next four years.

Updated: 11:18 Wednesday, April 03, 2002