It is not just hand car washes which are being targeted by immigration officers checking that employees are legally allowed to work in the UK, lawyer Robert Botkai warned delegates at the Petrol Retailers Association’s roadshow in Brands Hatch last week.
Forecourt owners are also increasingly being asked to prove that they or their operators have the necessary paperwork to demonstrate that all people working at their sites have the legal right to do so, said Botkai, senior partner of legal practice Winckworth Sherwood, London.
He said: “We are seeing immigration officers/the Home Office going into petrol stations and convenience stores, and it is a really traumatic situation when that does happen.” Fines, he said, can reach £45,000 per individual employed illegally.
He also warned that retailers that play music in store or show moving pictures should take advice as to whether music or film copyright licences are required.
And he cautioned that the tobacco and vape licensing scheme being considered by the government would likely be a “significant bureaucratic burden for the trade”.
