Convenience store in Swindon could lose license.
Its after the Home Office requested a review of employees.
Last updated 23rd Sep 2023
The licence of a convenience store in Swindon is to be be reviewed next week after allegations it has employed people with no right to work in the UK.
A three-councillor panel will meet after the Home Office requested the review of the Okus Convenience Store in Celsus Grove in South Leaze near Old Town saying its officers had found two people who can’t work in the country being employed there.
There is also an allegation made by trading standards officer employed by the council that the shop has been known to sell vaping products to children, against the terms of its licence.
The Home Office submission to the licensing panel says staff from its immigration compliance and enforcement team visited the store in April this year.
It adds: “Officers encountered two individuals working at the premises who were subsequently arrested as immigration offenders following checks.”
The narrative report says one of the two: “was observed initially assisting customers with package collection in store but then swapped with his colleague and served customers behind the counter selling alcohol, cigarettes, and other items to customers.
The man eventually admitted working for around 40 hours a week, but the report adds: “He could not show any evidence on his phone about his studies and said he has no laptop or computer to complete course work. He offered to start studying and said if we let him go, he would start to attend his course.”
The other man interviewed was in the UK on a study visa and despite the Home Office report saying when officers entered was “behind the counter operating the till and serving a queue of customers selling them items and getting cigarettes etc for them from behind the till” he continued to deny working at the shop.
He said he merely went there to pass the time with a friend and occasionally would help when asked.
The panel is due to meet Friday 29 September.