Tesco faces £200,000 fine over illegal workers including Indian students

Tuesday, 21 August 2012 - 8:08pm India News Bulletin Desk

UK's biggest supermarket chain Tesco faces fine over illegal workers

Image: Wikimedia Commons (C41n)

Britain’s biggest supermarket chain Tesco could face a fine of up to £200000 for illegally employing foreign students including one Indian student in its Croydon warehouse, it is reported.

According to a Daily Telegraph report, the UK Border Agency found that as many as 20 students -- from 12 different nationalities including Indian and Bangladeshi students -- have been working “significantly longer hours” than their student visas allowed in Tesco’s South London warehouse.

The UK border control agency arrested the 20 students for allegedly breaching their student visa conditions in July. The workers were found to be putting in 50-70 hours of work time in a week when their student visas allowed only 20 hours of work time every week, the report suggested.

Of the total number of students arrested, at least seven have been deported. But, none of the students have been identified yet.

The supermarket chain faces a potential fine of £10,000 per illegal worker it employed.

This is UKBA’s latest raid which shows that Britain is tightening its border control. Recently, it raided several factories and homes in London, Surrey and Midlands to arrest illegal immigrants and deport them after receiving tip offs.

This is part of UKBA’s strategy to tackle visa abuse which has seen over 2,000 offenders removed in the last four months.