Darts star left penniless and ‘feared he’d lose home and dogs’ gives emotional interview | Other | Sport
Mervyn King has been through his fair share of financial trouble over the years (Image: Getty)
A darts player who was left penniless has opened up on the troubles of going bankrupt and losing almost everything. Mervyn King has reached seven major PDC finals over the course of his career, as well as a World Championship semi-final in 2009. He has been ranked as high as fourth in the world but has also experienced his fair share of struggles away from the oche.
King was declared bankrupt last year after racking up debts in excess of £500,000 owed to HMRC. At the time, the 59-year-old said he was concerned about the prospect of losing his home and three dogs. He has since opened up on the ordeal in an emotional interview with Tungsten Tales, explaining that he was left in ‘a lot of trouble’.
Asked how it felt when the news of his bankruptcy was made public, King replied: “Earth-shattering, to be fair, but that was my choice.
“It started very, very early in my career where if they’d printed what I said in the papers, then everybody would have realised what led to it and what happened.
“Now, very early in my career, I was not under the impression that what you won was earnings, it was winnings. Now winnings, you don’t pay tax on. So, that’s the way it was. It was £500 here, £1,000 there or whatever it was, during the early part of the early years.
“And it wasn’t until I actually got to Lakeside and the words from Trina Gulliver: ‘I hope you’re looking after your money and paying your tax’. It sort of… what do you mean, tax?”
The penny didn’t truly drop for King until lockdown, when he was forced to take on a second job because darts had stopped during the pandemic.
He added: “I decided: ‘Okay, I’m going to contact HMRC and talk to them and get this sorted out’. I got in contact with a guy in Nottingham who used to work for HMRC, that now works for people trying to sort their tax affairs out with HMRC.
King managed to get himself out of bankruptcy earlier this month (Image: Getty)
“He cost me a lot of money, but he helped a lot. We went for full disclosure. I don’t know if anybody knows what that is, it’s pretty self-explanatory. They pick a date, how far they want to go back, and then they look at all your records from that date.
“We went back 20 years, and they looked at everything, all account details, the lot. Of course, when they went through everything and saw the fines and the interest, and everything else, it went [up and up].
“I looked at the final total and unless I find a magic wand or win the lottery, there’s no way that everything is going to get paid. I can’t, it’s impossible. So they decided they were going to make me bankrupt.
“My motorcycle is gone and all assets, all things I had bought are gone. They emptied my accounts and froze my accounts twice, which put me in a lot of trouble because I had direct debits going out which weren’t being paid so I was incurring charges against them.
“They don’t care, it’s black and it’s white, there’s no grey area. All they’re doing is their job, they’re trying to get as much money as they can for their client, which is HMRC.”
King also revealed that he was finally released from bankruptcy earlier this month, saying: “So, great, it’s over, it’s a fresh start and I start again. It’s just making sure that everything is all proper and above board now.”
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