Failed asylum seekers found at Welsh car wash

Three Iranian failed asylum seekers have been discovered working illegally at a car wash in the Welsh town of Sketty, just outside of Swansea.

Immigration officials also discovered an additional illegal worker from India at a nearby Mayhill supermarket.

At the Gower Hand Car Wash on Sketty’s Gower Road, the three migrants, aged 24, 21 and 20, were all in breach of immigration law which requested them to leave the UK upon the failure of their asylum bids. The trio must now report to the UK Border Agency having been placed on immigration bail ahead of their forced return to Iran.

The car wash owner may face penalties of up to £30,000 if he is unable to prove that the mandatory pre-employment right to work checklists were carried out before hiring the workers. Similarly, Mayhill Road’s M&H Supermarket could be penalised to £10,000 unless it can provide evidence that such checks were carried out. The Indian man apprehended was returned home just one day after being detained by officials. Both businesses have been issued with penalty notices by the UKBA ahead of any possible fines.

The raids are part of an ongoing clampdown against businesses that employ illegal workers in the UK, with offenders facing large fines and even loss of operating licenses. In 2009 alone the UKBA in Wales and the South West has issued fines amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

As part of the ongoing reform to British immigration all foreign nationals will soon be required to carry ID cards which the government hopes will stem the practice of illegal working.