A West London corner shop has been fined £10,000 for hiring an illegal worker for three years. Jeet Food & Wine in Acton was fined and had its licence suspended for three months after Ealing Council discovered the illegal worker.
The illegal worker had been working in the shop for three years and had been the only worker there during previous inspections by the council. Giving evidence at a council licensing meeting, licensing officer Robert Dear said he became suspicious of the unnamed worker after he was unable to produce any form of identification.
According to Mr Dear, during an inspection on December 8 2021, the worker admitted he had come to the UK with his family on a six-month visiting visa in 2015 and did not extend the visa or apply for a new one when it had expired. The illegal worker said he had been working at Jeet Food & Wine for three years and was paid £55 per day for ten-hour shifts between Monday and Saturday.
When confronted by the council inspectors, the shop’s owner, Balihar Singh Bhatia at first denied the illegal worker had worked for him for three years, and said that he had only started work that day. Mr Bhatia also denied having paid the worker any money.
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However, at the licensing review meeting on February 16, Mr Bhatia did not fully accept the council’s version of events. Defending Mr Bhatia, his lawyer Surendra Panchal said Mr Bhatia hired the illegal worker for occasional work because he had problems with his spine that meant he couldn’t always stand up.
According to Mr Bhatia, the illegal worker only worked three or four-hour shifts and was paid £20 for the work alongside petty cash vouchers from the shop.
Denying Mr Bhatia knew he was in the country illegally, Mr Panchal said: “Every time our client asked for the documents, he said, ‘I will bring it in’. He was keeping on giving excuses every now and then regarding producing the documents.”
Mr Bhatia said he was “frustrated” and apologised for lying to council officers. During the meeting, Mr Bhatia and his lawyer alleged that the illegal worker was still at large in Ealing and working in other shops.
Mr Panchal said: “In the present moment also, we have found out that he is still working somewhere illegally, which is none of our business but we managed to track that.” Asked by the licensing committee what happened to the illegal worker, Mr Panchal said Mr Bhatia had not seen him since he was taken away by immigration officers.
Mr Panchal said: “My client also tried to ring him, he did not pick up the phone. But from the local community, my client has managed to find out that he is now working somewhere else, which again is illegal, and we will be reporting that to the immigration department.”
He later added: “We hold our hands up. The client has learnt his lesson. We are very sorry for what has happened.”
Summarising his evidence, Mr Dear asked Ealing Council to revoke Jeet Food & Wine’s licence and said: “Mr Bhatia knew that man was an illegal worker straight from day one, so this was a case of exploitation. He was saving money, he was exploiting a man who entered the country in search of a better life with his wife, two children and his mother.”
The licensing committee chose not to revoke Jeet Food & Wine’s licence because of the large fine Mr Bhatia had to pay.
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