Restaurant could lose licence over illegal workers

The business appealed the £90,000 fine but failed to get it overturned

A restaurant fined £90,000 after two illegal workers were found by immigration officials faces being stripped of its alcohol licence.

Exotic Karahi in Farnham Road, Slough, was raided last September and was given the civil penalty in November.

A woman, whose visa was found to have expired in 2011, initially told the Home Office officials she was allowed to use the restaurant's kitchen to cook for herself.

Slough Borough Council's licensing sub-committee will be asked to revoke the restaurant's licence at a meeting on 29 July.

A man found to be working illegally at the premises threw an apron he had been wearing into a dishwasher when he was spotted, a Home Office report said.

Further checks found he entered the UK in 2009 on a visa which expired in 2010.

He had previously been arrested by immigration officials and then applied for leave to remain in the UK.

But at the time he was found, his application was still outstanding and his bail conditions did not allow him to work.

Exotic Sweet Centre Ltd, the company that owns the restaurant, appealed the £90,000 fine but it was upheld in December.

It currently has permission to sell alcohol between 10:00 and 23:00 from Monday to Sunday but the Home Office and Thames Valley Police both want that revoked.

Under the Licensing Act 2003, which is mostly managed by councils, licence holders must abide by its conditions including the prevention of crime and disorder.

The Home Office said another person whose visa had expired was arrested at the restaurant in May 2013.

Immigration Enforcement, part of the Home Office, is responsible for fining businesses that have been found to have employed illegal workers.