BRADLY Carter, the director of Dr Spafish, which had a shop in the Brunel Centre offering fish pedicures, has been disqualified from acting as a director for seven years for failing to maintain adequate accounting records.

The town centre store, which was officially opened by the late former mayor Rex Barnett and his wife Sandra, closed in November 2011 after the craze hit national newspaper headlines the previous month amid reports that it could spread HIV and Hepatitis C.

Following the closure, the Adver reported that staff and customers had been left out of pocket, with workers owed hundreds of pounds in wages and shoppers unable to use their gift and loyalty cards.

Carter’s disqualification follows an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

Carter, 44, of Essex, gave an undertaking to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills not to be involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company until October 2020.

Spafish had stores across the country, including the store in Swindon. The company started trading in August 2010 and went into liquidation on November 28, 2011, owing £788,968 to creditors.

The investigation showed that due to the insufficient accounting records for the entire trading period, it was not possible to establish what the company’s turnover was, who benefitted from cheques and cash worth £181,953 withdrawn from the company’s bank account and what happened to £68,100 received as part payments for franchises. Additionally, due to incomplete payroll records, it was not possible to establish who was employed by Spafish, what they were paid and whether tax had been paid to HM Revenue & Customs.

Furthermore, it was not possible to determine the full extent of losses incurred by customers or who these customers were.

Mark Bruce, a chief examiner at the Insolvency Service said: “Company directors must keep sufficient financial records that show and explain the company’s transactions. This director failed to do this and there remain a large number of unexplained transactions, representing significant amounts, over the company’s trading period.

“The Insolvency Service will take action against directors who fail to meet these obligations and remove them from the business environment as has happened to Mr Carter.”