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Robinson and Sawdon, a contractor in Yorkshire and Humberside, was fined £172, 661, with no leniency. James Deacon is its managing director.

Waiting for the announcement for three years was hard because you didn’t know how much the fine was going to be. We had nothing to compare it with. Now it’s announced, I just want it finished. We’ve been sitting with this on our backs for the last couple of years and I just want to get on with things now. I’d like to pay sooner rather than later.

The main thing we’re bothered about is how the rest of the world reacts. The government says that the local authorities still have to work with companies who have been fined and I hope that they do that. We’ve worked with local authorities and we sit in good standing with them and I want to carry that on. I don’t know whether they will stick with us. It’s just going to take a while for this to sink in.

I bought this company in 2006 and it was the three previous directors who were responsible for the company [when it rigged bids]. We will now be paying the fine and then claiming the money back under the warranties that were in the contract when we bought the company. These covered any untoward things that might happen after the sale.

So now our legal team will have to sit down together and work out how

they pay. That’s good, of course, but we’ve still got the fine to pay up front. That’s going to have an impact on the bottom line.