Former director of Indian restaurant disqualified for failing to pay £85,000 in fines
A former director of a Shropshire Indian restaurant has been disqualified after failing to pay £85,000 in fines for employing people who did not have the right to work in the UK.
The Insolvency Service says Abdul Hamid Ali, 61, who was a director of 'Shifnal Cottage Ltd', on the A5, at Crackleybank, near Shifnal, has been disqualified for seven years.
The company which was running the restaurant also applied for voluntary liquidation on December 21 last year.
When contacted for comment, Shifnal Cottage said it is still open and operating – but is under new management.
The disqualified directors register on Companies House shows Mr Ali's disqualification order came into force on December 18 – days before his company applied for voluntary liquidation.
The Insolvency Service said Mr Ali had "breached his duties as a director of Shifnal Cottage Limited by failing to ensure that it complied with legislative requirements".
Its ruling says that the business was issued with two penalty notices – one for £45,000 and another for £40,000, after being found employing people who did not have the right to work in the UK.
It said that visits from Home Office immigration officials on July 10, 2020, and July 15, 2021, found that four people who did not have the right to work in the UK were employed at the business – with five fines issued as one person was found on both visits.
The ruling said Mr Ali "was the appointed director of the company at the time of the Home Office visits", and added that the fines remain unpaid.
