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Vittorio Dragoti employed four illegal workers from Romania at his Fiveways Car Wash in Suffolk
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The workers were found with no right to work in the UK by Immigration Enforcement last year
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Dragoti has been banned as a company director until May 2032
The owner of a Suffolk hand car wash has been banned as a company director for seven years after employing four illegal workers.
Vittorio Dragoti, 28, hired the workers from Romania at the Fiveways Car Wash on the Fiveways Roundabout near Barton Mills.
The workers were discovered when Immigration Enforcement officials visited the car wash in 2024.
Dave Magrath, Director of Investigation and Enforcement Services at the Insolvency Service, said
Company directors have clear statutory obligations to recruit people who have the right to work in the UK.
Consumers deserve to have confidence that workers providing services to them are not working illegally. And the workers themselves deserve to not be put in such a vulnerable position by people who may exploit their immigration status.
Vittorio Dragoti’s disqualification as a company director is a result of ongoing close collaboration between the Insolvency Service and our partners at the Home Office to clamp down on rogue directors.
Dragoti, of Queensway, Mildenhall, was the sole director of Vito’s Car Care Limited since March 2019.
Immigration Enforcement officials found the four Romanian men aged between 18 and 49 with no right to work in the UK when they visited the car wash in April last year.
Vito’s Car Care was fined £180,000 for the immigration breach. The fine currently remains unpaid.
Cheryl Daldry, the Home Office’s East of England Immigration Compliance and Enforcement lead, said
This is a great example of the serious consequences that are in store for business owners who fail to carry out checks on individuals they hire to ensure they have the right to work in the UK.
Dragoti flouted our employment and immigration rules by employing multiple people with no right to work in the UK, resulting in long term enforcement action against himself and his business.
“I would like to thank our partners at the Insolvency Service for their help to secure these sanctions against this non-compliant employer.
The Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted a disqualification undertaking from Dragoti, and his seven-year ban began on Thursday 15 May.
The disqualification prevents him from becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court. It does not impact any businesses with similar names or locations.
