Immigration raid: Restaurant says it carried out correct checks (From Bucks Free Press)

Immigration raid: Bourne End restaurant says it carried out correct checks

1:41pm Thursday 25th October 2012 in News By Lawrence Dunhill

THE owner of an Indian restaurant says he carried out ‘right-to-work’ checks on two employees who were arrested in an immigration raid.

The Last Viceroy in Bourne End was raided by UK Border Agency officials last week, who arrested two Bangladeshi men aged 21 and 20.

Officials said the restaurant on The Parade could face a fine of up to £20,000 unless the appropriate right-to-work checks were carried out.

But owner Abdul Halim told the Bucks Free Press he had checked the employees’ passport and visa documents.

One of the employees had had his visa curtailed for failing to attend his college, according to agency officials, and Mr Halim said: “I told them this wasn’t my fault.

"It’s not my duty to ask him if he’s attending college. He was only working ten hours part-time and he was only with us for three or four days.

"It is our duty to check they work within the maximum amount of hours and have the right paperwork. It is not the duty of an employer to ensure a foreign worker is attending their educational classes.

“And the other guy gave me his passport which said he had indefinite leave to live in the UK.

“We checked all the documents and I kept the photocopies. The agency asked me to show them and they said they were satisfied.

“We’ve been here 27 years and never had anything like this before.”