The owner of a Spalding takeaway found to be employing an illegal worker as well as other licence breaches has been allowed to keep his licence with certain conditions.
Lincolnshire Police requested that a Licencing Panel of South Holland District Council seriously consider revoking the licence for Hot and Spice in New Road held by Mr Rais Abbas.
The panel met online on Monday after the scheduled meeting last Thursday was adjourned to consider new evidence submitted by the police.
It was held behind closed doors due to the police investigation into the takeaway.
The force’s report to the committee states: “Lincolnshire Police have obtained evidence in relation to a number of offences, including the employment of an illegal worker, non-compliance with the licence conditions of the Premises Licence and selling food not as requested or expected.”
It follows the force carrying out a “food test purchase” in January where a ham and pineapple pizza ordered contained turkey instead of ham which the police said had previously happened in 2016.
The report continues: “A worker within the premises who was witnessed preparing food and packing orders was found to have had no right to be in the country and no right to work, he was also circulated as wanted for a breach of a court order.”
It also states Mr Abbas had been dealt with before for employing an illegal worker whose visa had ran out two weeks previous.
Concerns were also raised about the operation and adequacy of the CCTV system installed at the premises.
But the panel decided not to revoke the licence so long as certain conditions were met.
The panel’sjudgement says: “The panel felt that the CCTV condition that was originally imposed in 2005 was now out of date.
“An issue had arisen as to the CCTV in January 2020 and a new system installed at the end of January 2020. This issue the panel felt could be sufficiently dealt with by the imposition of conditions.
“The premises indicated they would be content with a specific condition.
“A test purchase by Trading Standards showed that a ham and pineapple pizza had been ordered but a turkey and pineapple pizza supplied. It was acknowledged in a letter from Trading Standards that the menus show that no ham products are sold.
“It was felt that this may be a training issue and that the most appropriate way to deal with this matter was by the imposition of a condition.
“The most serious issue was the employing of an illegal worker. The premises licence holder relied on a letter from the Home Office suggesting a right to work together with a National Insurance number and a p45 from a previous employer.
“The police would suggest that insufficient follow up took place including a failure to double check with the Home Office as to whether the document was genuine or whether there had been a change of circumstances.
“It was of note that the premises were paying tax and National Insurance and providing wage slips which indicated that this was not a case of exploitation by the premises of the worker.
“It is of relevance that the licence is only to supply hot food after 11pm. If the licence were revoked there would be no requirement at all to have cctv or any conditions.
“The most appropriate steps to promote the licensing objectives are to impose conditions upon the licence.
“A CCTV system shall be installed, recording and maintained in working order and operated at the premises to the satisfaction of Lincolnshire Police.
“To keep upon the premises a folder containing details of all right to work checks done on all current employees and those that have left in the past two years including copies of the documents, date when the documents were checked and any further checks performed with the Home Office and the date and manner of those additional checks.
“A separate record of any checks leading to a refusal to employ on the grounds of lack of right to work and the reasons is to be maintained for 2 years after the date of refusal
“The folder is to be made available on request to any relevant authority.
“All staff are to be trained upon the contents of products and in the event that a customer tries to order an item that is not on the menu then the customer is to be made explicitly aware of the options or products that could be provided.
“A record that this training has been provided is to be kept and made available for inspection where required by any responsible authority.
“All staff that directly handle or prepare the food should undertake a level two or equivalent standard Food Safety and Hygiene Qualification. Records of this training is to be maintained for all current relevant staff and produced on request to any responsible authority.”
