THE curtain has come down on directors of a Pendle entertainment supply company who failed to stage a comeback when they sank into financial difficulties.

Carl Ryder and Elizabeth Cook, of Broughton, who ran 8 By 4 Productions Ltd, which supplied staging and ancillary services for the entertainment industry from a unit at Colne's Primet Business Centre, will be 'resting' as directors for the next five years after being disqualified for unfit conduct.

Preston Crown Court was told the couple, both of Pasture House Farm, Gargrave Road, headed a company which went into liquidation in December 1998 with an estimated deficiency of nearly £164,000.

Matters of unfit conduct found by the court included allowing the company to trade to the detriment of Inland Revenue and other Crown Departments, whose liabilities increased from £38,000 in April 1997 to £180,000 at the time of the liquidation.

At the same time, amounts owing trade creditors and bank borrowing reduced substantially.

The court also found that the couple knew or should have known the company was insolvent and unable to pay its debts by May 1998 at the latest -- by which time the Inland Revenue had threatened to instigate winding up proceedings.

Despite this they allowed the company to continue trading, to the detriment of creditors and allowed the firm to issue cheques and direct debits which were returned or unpaid, totalling £12,481, at a time when they knew or ought to have known the company was not paying outstanding creditors.

They also failed to ensure the company maintained or delivered to the liquidator sufficient accounting records for the last months of operating to enable him to carry out his functions.