Aberdeenshire businesses fined more than £28,000 for illegal workers

Four Aberdeenshire restaurants have been fined a total of £28,750 in civil penalties for employing illegal workers, details recently published by the UK Border Agency show.

As part of the ongoing crackdown into illegal working, the takeaways and restaurants were visited in late 2011 and January this year.

Porto Rico’s in Ladeside Road, Port Elphinstone was visited in August 2011 and 3 Pakistani members of staff were found to have no right to work in the UK.
Our officers visited the Massala Garden takeaway in Brighton Place, Peterculter in October 2011, where 1 Bangladeshi man was working illegally.

Porto Rico’s in Broad Street, Peterhead was visited in November 2011, and 2 Pakistani men were working illegally there.

In January 2012, officers visited the Spice Cottage in South Road, Oldmeldrum, where 4 Bangladeshi men with no right to work in the UK were found.

All 4 businesses were issued with potential fine notices for employing illegal workers.

They were then given an opportunity to prove that the correct right-to-work checks were made before the workers were taken on.

They failed to do so and have now been handed fines of £10,000 for Porto Rico’s in Port Elphinstone, £5,000 for Massala Garden, £8,750 for Porto Rico’s in Peterhead and £5,000 for the Spice Cottage.