Gangmasters shut down over packaging staff mistreatment

It interviewed 19 of the 70 temporary workers on site at the time. They had been supplied through three gangmasters.

It revoked the licence of A to Z Employment Services, based in Sparkhill, Birmingham. The firm must stop trading immediately or face prosecution.

The firm was using an illegal and un-roadworthy minibus to ferry workers from their homes to the warehouse. The agency's boss also instructed a worker to put clingfilm on a serious cut and to continue working on a food production line.

Two other gangmasters have had their licences revoked without immediate effect, which allows them to continue trading until the conclusion of the appeals process.

The investigators also found that documents had been manipulated and accurate records of the number and identity of workers employed at the warehouse were not kept.

The GLA said Simms & Woods was not to blame for the illegal employment practices discovered.

GLA chairman Paul Whitehouse said: "We cannot allow an agency that puts its workers at risk to continue trading. When the boss of the agency tells a worker to put a bit of clingfilm on a serious cut and get back to work processing food, you have to question if they should be allowed to run a business."

The raid on Simms & Woods was part of the GLA's Operation Scorpion, an ongoing series of unannounced visits throughout the UK to ensure that labour providers are operating within the law.

West Mercia Police and the Border and Immigration Agency joined the GLA as part of this operation.

The GLA was set up to protect workers from exploitation in food processing and packing, agriculture, horticulture and shellfish gathering, after the deaths of 23 Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay in 2005.

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