A retired former building firm boss has been issued with 420 fines from the Government totalling tens of thousands of pounds in a mix-up over paperwork.

Dennis Amos, aged 65, of Langley, received the penalty demands from HM Revenue and Customs. The department claimed his company was part of its Construction Industry Scheme and issued the fines for failure to send in necessary returns. But his former company, Amos Builders Ltd, ceased to be part of the scheme when it became a limited company three years ago.

On three separate occasions he has r­eceived 140 individual fines from HMRC.

He subsequently received 140 written apologies for the mistakes, before the latest demand for £14,000 arrived.

Mr Amos was head of Amos Builders until September 2009 before he retired and his son, Steven Amos, took over the family firm.

“It was a bit scary the first time I received the fines and I was asked for all that money,” Mr Amos said.

“This is the third time this has happened.

“It’s the sheer waste that annoys me. When they realised their mistake they sent 140 separate letters to apologise.”

The Construction Industry Scheme, revised in April 2007, explains how businesses should pay sub-contractors for construction work.

Fines are issued to firms who do not submit their monthly returns.

HMRC spokesman Jennie Kendall has apologised for the mix-up, which was put down was down to “human error”.

He said: “HMRC are unable to discuss individual cases for reasons of confidentiality.

“However, we have looked into this matter as a priority and wish to apologise for the inconvenience caused to this customer as a result of human error.

“CIS penalties are issued monthly but, sometimes, penalties are issued for back months. That is why someone may, on occasion, get multiple penalties. When the penalties are subsequently cancelled, ‘correction’ penalties of zero are issued per each issue.”