The former boss of a holiday park firm has been banned from running companies for 14 years after investors were left more than £19m out of pocket.

Walsham Chalet Park Ltd, which traded as Dream Lodge, went into liquidation in 2019 owing money to around 1,100 investors.

It had holiday parks in North Walsham, Ely and Bury St Edmunds, which are now under new management.

The company ran a scheme where people could invest in part or an entire holiday chalet and would receive returns based on the holiday rental income.

But after it went into liquidation, Deloitte opened an investigation into the company’s finances.

Creditors included 161 people who had paid the company £14.2m for holiday chalets that were never built, Deloitte found.

They also found that 30 investors had paid the holiday park company £1.8m to invest in chalets at Coleford Park, Gloucestershire, but the company did not own the site.

It flagged its findings to the Insolvency Service and on Tuesday, director Simon Moir, 58, was disqualified from acting as a director for 14 years.

See also: Dream Lodge director tries to sell mansion in defiance of court ban

Sue Macleod, chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: “Mr Moir presided over a scheme where people thought they were investing in holiday chalets with the promise of generous financial returns.

“But it was nothing more than a ruse and Simon Moir’s actions have caused substantial losses to investors, many of whom have lost their life savings.”

The Insolvency Service said Mr Moir should have been aware that the lodges had not been built and that there was little or no prospect of them being completed.

Mr Moir caused further misconduct, the Insolvency Service said, when he instructed Walsham Chalet Park’s employees to send false accounts to the company’s bank in order to secure the bank’s continued support.

Walsham Chalet Park Limited was incorporated in 1966 and operated eight holiday parks.

Mr Moir was appointed as a director of the company in 1998.

But the company eventually began to struggle and by January 2019, Walsham Chalet Park entered into administration before being placed into creditors voluntary liquidation the following September.