Twyford trainer Alan Jarvis has fired a broadside at the British Horseracing Authority after losing his licence.

The 75-year-old handler was refused permission to train under the BHA’s ‘fit and proper person’ rule, relating to debts owed to Doncaster Bloodstock Sales Ltd.

The family had hoped that his son, Tim, would be able to take out a licence of his own having passed all the required modules.

But the BHA last week decided not to issue him with the required documentation.

Jarvis jnr has appealed against that decision, with a hearing due to take place on Monday.

In the meantime, his father applied to extend the temporary licence under which he had been operating, but that was thrown out by the BHA.

That came after the BHA appeal board concluded that Jarvis had acted with a “serious commercial lack of integrity”.

Speaking after the latest hearing, Jarvis said: “I’m obviously very disappointed.

“In making this decision no thought or feeling has gone towards the staff, owners or other family members.

“They say I’ve given racing a bad name, but I know people who have done far worse that are still training.”

Jarvis, who began training in 1969 and has saddled more than 750 winners, denied the amount of debt he owed – as stated in the BHA case file – totalled £868,366.

He claimed he was going to repay £200,000, but before he could do that he was declared bankrupt — the second time he has suffered that fate – which he says meant all his debts were written off.

“I had one debt and three-quarters of it was there to be paid to Doncaster, but they wouldn’t wait for the final £50,000 and they carried out their threat,” he added.

“To say I showed no contrition is wrong.

“Everybody knows what happened with my son dying and daughter getting cancer.

“I lost the plot for two years.”

Now Jarvis is planning to take legal action against the BHA through the civil courts.

In the meantime, some of his horses have been transferred to his son-in-law, Karl Burke, who trains at Leyburn in North Yorkshire, and will run under his name.

It represents a reversal of the state of affairs of five years ago when Jarvis took over Burke’s string when the master of Spigot Lodge was banned for a year for passing information for reward to warned-off gambler Miles Rodgers.