A director of a tailoring company has been disqualified for four years after dodging tax.

Tarkan Alpay, from Battersea and a director of First Tailored Limited, based in Chelsea, owed £162,862 to HM Revenue and Customs.

The company stopped trading in November 2008 and went into liquidation on December 6, 2011, owing £163,362 to creditors.

An investigation from The Insolvency Service showed since 2009 the company paid only £11,909 in tax, despite payments of £1.3m going in.

A further £500 was owed to a trader.

Mark Bruce, chief examiner at The Insolvency Service, said: "Directors who seek an unfair advantage over their competitors by not paying tax are damaging commercial confidence and harming the UK’s reputation as a place to do business.

"They should not expect to get away with it.

"Other directors tempted to follow this path should remember that if they run a business in a way that is detrimental to either its customers or its creditors they lose the protection afforded by limited liability.

"The Insolvency Service will investigate them and seek to remove them from the business environment."

Mr Alpay has given an undertaking to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills he will not act as a director of a limited company from June 2013 to June 2017.