It was a 124-year-old Welsh family business which took five generations to build up, yet a blunder over a single letter was all that was needed to cause its collapse, leaving the British government with a £9 million ($17 million) legal bill.

A British High Court ruling has found a government department liable for the demise of Taylor & Sons Ltd - all because of a typo.

Companies House, part of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, erroneously recorded that the Cardiff engineering firm Taylor & Sons Ltd had been wound up.

In fact it was another, entirely unconnected, company - Taylor & Son Ltd - which had actually gone bust.

By the time Companies House tried to correct its mistake three days later, it was already too late for the Welsh business.