THE former directors of MG Rover have missed a third deadline for filing the car manufacturer’s 2004 accounts, amplifying fears about what is holding up the figures.

The four directors run the risk of criminal prosecution if the accounts are not filed within the next few days. The accounts are still being audited by Deloitte, which is under investigation over its previous auditing of the failed carmaker.

The 2004 accounts, which are likely to exclude key information about manufacturing and trading in the months before the collapse, should have been filed with Companies House last October. Phoenix Venture Holdings, the parent company which is still trading, secured an extension to January 31 but then missed that second deadline and were granted another deferment to Tuesday.

A Phoenix spokesman said: ‘There is nothing we can do. We are waiting for Deloitte.’ But a spokeswoman for Deloitte said the responsibility for accounts’ filing lay with the directors.

Separately, a report into the effect of MG Rover’s collapse reveals that a third of its workers had still not found new jobs. And 50% of those in new jobs were earning ‘a lot less’ than they had been at the carmaker.