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Edris Ali employed two illegal workers at a pizza restaurant in Hartlepool and a further four people with no right to work in the UK at a hand car wash in Guisborough
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The six workers from Iran, Sudan and Cote d’Ivoire were discovered during visits by Immigration Enforcement
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Ali has been banned as a company director until November 2034
The former director of a pizza restaurant and hand car wash who employed six illegal workers has been banned for 10 years.
Edris Ali, 39, recruited two people who did not have the right to work in the UK at the Tasty pizza restaurant in Hartlepool and a further four illegal workers at Bubbles Car Valeting in Guisborough.
The workers were discovered during Immigration Enforcement visits in 2020 and 2022.
Ali, of Lorne Street, Middlesbrough, was handed the disqualification order at the High Court in London in October.
He was also ordered to pay £9,884 in costs. His directorship ban started on Tuesday 12 November.
Dave Magrath, Director of Investigation and Enforcement Services at the Insolvency Service, said
Employers hiring illegal workers defrauds the public purse and puts potentially vulnerable people at risk of exploitation.
Edris Ali failed in his statutory duties by employing these six people who did not have the right to work in the UK.
We will continue to work closely with the Home Office to tackle rogue employers who breach the standards we expect of company directors.
Ali was appointed director of the restaurant, trading as Hama Tasty Ltd, in January 2019.
He also became a director of Bubbles Car Valeting in December of that year.
Immigration Enforcement visited the restaurant on Northgate in Hartlepool in January 2020, finding two Iranian men in their 30s with no right to work in the UK.
One of the workers said he had been at the restaurant for one week while the other told officers he had been working there for two or three months.
Officials then visited Bubbles Car Valeting on Walton Terrace in Guisborough in October 2022, discovering four illegal workers.
The workers, all men in their 20s, were from Iran, Sudan and Cote d’Ivoire, and said they had been working at the hand car wash for between one week to one month.
Immigration Enforcement fined Hama Tasty £20,000 and Bubbles Car Valeting £60,000 for the immigration breaches.
Theresa Gregory, the Home Office’s Immigration Compliance Enforcement lead for North East, Yorkshire & Humber, said
This longstanding investigation into illegal working on Teesside and the resulting penalties is a great example of collaborative working between government agencies to combat breaches in employment legislation.
Employers have a responsibility to carry out thorough checks on individuals prior to employment to ensure they have the right to work in the UK. A failure to do so may lead to further action being taken by the regulator.
I would like to thank our partners at the Insolvency Service for their help to secure a sanction against this non-compliant employer.
Ali resigned as a director of both companies in 2022.
His director ban prevents him from becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.
