A FRIEND of a car wash owner was not illegally working after all, Home Office Immigration has decided.
Celtic Hand Car Wash in Milford Haven made headlines in the local press after owner Sarkawt Abdulrhaman Mohammad was issued with a fine of £10,000 by Immigration Enforcement Officers following a high profile raid in October.
Mahmud Mohammed Ali Zada, a 21 year old Iranian national, was spoken to at the car wash.
He was told to regularly report to officials after claiming asylum in Swansea.
An initial statement from Immigration said: “Ali Zada was encountered at the premises and was questioned by officials. He stated that he as been coming to the business for two days and was helping his friend out by cooking food and cleaning and polishing cars. Immigration had initially stated that he worked 3 or 4 hours on the Friday before the visit.
“Employment is defined in section 25(b) of the Immigration Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 as employment under a contract of service or apprenticeship, whether express or implied and whether oral or written. Therefore evidence obtained at the time showed that Mohammed Ali Zada was working at the premises fulfilling a role.”
However, not happy with this outcome, owner Mr Mohammad appealed against the decision.
Mr Mohammed told The Herald: “The proof that he was not working was the fact was living in Swansea, too far away to work at the premises.
I successfully demonstrated that he only came to visit the car wash as a personal friend. He said that he polished a car, but it was mine and not a customers cars on a commercial basis. He was not wearing a company uniform either – he was definately not illegally working for me.
Immigration Enforcement have now accepted Mr Mohammed’s recommendations.
A notice showing that the penalty was cancelled was received this week.
“I am delighted with the outcome. Since the incident was reported on The Herald website and in the Western Telegraph on October 14, I have lost many customers. Now, I hope they will come back to our car wash, as it has been proved we did nothing wrong.”
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