§ Mr. George Cunninghamasked the Secretary of State for Trade whether Rudbray's Limited, listed in the London Gazette on 21st March as a company to be struck off the register for breach of 145W the Companies Act, has yet filed information about itself as required by the Act.
§ Mr. Clinton DavisThe penalty for failing to submit statutory returns is, on conviction, a default fine. The Registrar resorts to striking-off action only when, on seeking to remind a company of its default, he is unable to make contact with it, thereby being given reasonable cause to believe that the company is no longer in business or in operation.
The company in question has not yet notified its registered office address or appointments of directors. In such a case, six weeks after the date of incorporation, a letter is sent to the subscribers and, if, as was so in this case, the appointment of a secretary has been notified, to the secretary calling attention to the omission. The letter also asks if the company is carrying on business or in operation. If no reply is received within four weeks a second reminder is sent by recorded delivery, giving one month for a reply. If again there is no response within the month a notice is printed in the London Gazette stating that at the expiration of three months from the date of that notice the name of the company will, unless cause is shown to the contrary, be struck off the register and the company will be dissolved. On the same day a letter is sent to the company—in this case at the address of the secretary—giving the same information. Three months later, unless, meanwhile, cause is shown to the contrary, a further notice is published in the Gazette stating that the company is struck off the register and is dissolved.