Restaurant’s illegal staff paid £2 an hour

TWO RESTAURANTS have had their licences revoked after evidence that illegal workers were being paid as little as £2 an hour.

The Regency restaurants in Barbican Road and George Hudson Street, York, have had their licences withdrawn after York Council and North Yorkshire Police highlighted a string of incidents during the past few years.

They include 16 illegal workers being removed from the restaurants, the company being prosecuted for food hygiene breaches at one site and selling a knife to an underage person at another.

In the space of two and a half years – from April 2017 to September 2019 – 10 illegal workers were discovered at the Barbican Road site and a further six at the George Hudson Street premises.

Gary Grant, solicitor for the council, told a hearing, vulnerable people were being exploited. He said: “There is evidence in this case suggesting, for example, that the workers were paid no more than £2 or £3 an hour.

“For those vulnerable people they know they cannot go to the authorities.

“It undercuts all the other lawabiding restaurateurs in York, who have to pay the legal minimum wage.”

He also highlighted concerns over fire safety and an incident in which the owners were cautioned over the sale of a knife to a person under 18 in 2017.

But Riyaz Shaikh, solicitor representing the owners of The Regency restaurants, said the incidents happened some time ago.

He said: “The appropriate authorities could have prosecuted on a number of occasions. There has not been a single prosecution for illegal workers at either of The Regency restaurants.

But councillors revoked the licence for both premises.