Two businesses in Buckinghamshire have been fined over £10,000 for hiring workers who are not legally allowed to work in the UK.

North Star Car Wash in Iver and Yummee Chicken Shop in High Wycombe were listed in the government's quarterly round-up of companies who were issued with penalties for employing illegal workers in 2022. 

The North Star Car Wash on Thorney Mill Road in Iver was fined £20,000 for hiring individuals who did not have the legal right to work in the UK.

Thames Valley Police and Immigration Enforcement previously investigated the car wash for not carrying out the correct background checks on employees in July 2021, resulting in a fine of £15,000.

Now registered on Companies House under the name Iver Hand Car Wash Limited, the company changed management in November 2021.

Bucks Free Press:

Action to have the car wash struck from the Companies House register, which can be taken if a business is no longer active or is not complying with legal obligations, was discontinued in February 2023.

Yummee Chicken Shop on Oxford Street in High Wycombe also had to pay £30,000 in civil penalties last year for employing multiple illegal workers.

Management of the shop changed hands in May 2018 and its business accounts are more than six months overdue.

There is an active application to have the chicken shop struck from the Companies House register.

Bucks Free Press:

The two businesses were included in a government report of the companies given illegal working civil penalties in the UK between October 1 and December 31, 2022.

According to Gov.uk, business owners can be penalised for employing someone who doesn't have the right to work in the country and has not undergone sufficient checks by paying up to £20,000 for each illegal worker. 

Individuals can also be sent to jail for up to five years and be made to pay an unlimited fine if found guilty of employing someone they knew or had reasonable cause to believe did not have the right to work in the UK.

This includes if they had reason to believe that:

  • They did not have permission to enter or remain in the UK.
  • Their leave had expired.
  • They were not allowed to do certain types of work.
  • Their papers were incorrect or false.