Popular chip shop among Sheffield businesses fined combined total of £110k for employing illegal workers

By Sarah Marshall
Published 6th Jun 2023, 10:19 BST
Updated 6th Jun 2023, 10:19 BST
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now
A popular chip shop located in a city suburb is among the Sheffield businesses that have been fined a combined total of £110,000 for employing illegal workers.

New documents published by UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) show that between October 1 and December 31, 2022, four Sheffield businesses received fines of several thousand pounds for employing illegal workers.

Storm Hand Car Wash, which is based on Attercliffe Common in Attercliffe, Sheffield, received a fine of £75,000, the largest issued to a business in Yorkshire and the Humber during that period.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Great Wall takeaway on Chapel Street, Woodhouse was given the second-largest Sheffield fine of £15,000 for employing illegal workers, while the popular chip shop, Woodhouse Fish Bar, based on Beighton Road in the suburb, was hit with a £10,000 fine.

The Express Hand Car Wash at 245 Ecclesall Road (top left); Great Wall at 2a Chapel Street, Woodhouse (top right); Woodhouse Fish Bar at 1 Beighton Road, Woodhouse (bottom left) and Storm Hand Car Wash 65 Attercliffe Common, Attercliffe have all been fined for employing illegal workers, according to recently released documents published by UK Visas and ImmigrationThe Express Hand Car Wash at 245 Ecclesall Road (top left); Great Wall at 2a Chapel Street, Woodhouse (top right); Woodhouse Fish Bar at 1 Beighton Road, Woodhouse (bottom left) and Storm Hand Car Wash 65 Attercliffe Common, Attercliffe have all been fined for employing illegal workers, according to recently released documents published by UK Visas and Immigration
The Express Hand Car Wash at 245 Ecclesall Road (top left); Great Wall at 2a Chapel Street, Woodhouse (top right); Woodhouse Fish Bar at 1 Beighton Road, Woodhouse (bottom left) and Storm Hand Car Wash 65 Attercliffe Common, Attercliffe have all been fined for employing illegal workers, according to recently released documents published by UK Visas and Immigration

A second Sheffield car wash, Express Hand Car Wash on Ecclesall Road, was also ordered to pay £10,000 for having illegal workers in their employ.

The fines have been issued as part of a Government crackdown.

Home Office guidance into the civil penalty scheme, under which the Sheffield businesses have been fined, states: “Under section 15 of the 2006 Act an employer may be liable for a civil penalty if they employ someone who does not have the right to undertake the work in question. Employers have a duty to prevent illegal working in the UK by carrying out prescribed document checks on people before employing them to ensure they are lawfully allowed to work.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It adds: “Illegal working often results in abusive and exploitative behaviour, the mistreatment of illegal migrant workers, tax evasion and illegal housing conditions. It can also undercut legitimate businesses and have an adverse impact on the employment of people who are lawfully in the UK.”

Visa and immigration expert Yash Dubal, director of A Y & J Solicitors, has urged businesses to carry out right to work checks on workers or face sanctions.

He said: “An employer has a responsibility to make sure workers are legally allowed to work. Ignorance is not a defence and if you cannot show you have made the necessary checks you could be facing a significant fine.”

“The laws around immigration have changed over the last few years and some businesses, especially smaller ones, may be unaware of the implications and new compliance requirements. Anyone knowingly employing an illegal worker, or who has reason to suspect someone they are employing does not have a legal right to work can face an unlimited fine and up to five years in prison,” he added.