THE owners of an Indian restaurant in Bournemouth have been fined a record £30,000 for employing six illegal workers.

Acting on intelligence information, UK Border Agency immigration officers swooped on the Taj Mahal in Poole Road, Westbourne, on the evening of October 23 last year.

A team from the agency’s Poole office checked the status of six Bangladeshi men, aged from 25 to 68, employed in the kitchen and as waiters, and found they had no legal right to work in the UK.

Immigration officers issued the restaurant with an on-the-spot notice warning the employers that they may receive a large fine unless proof was provided that the necessary work checks had been carried out before the men were given jobs.

No evidence was provided and the restaurant owners were given a £30,000 civil penalty fine – the largest single fine handed out to a Dorset business since civil penalties for employers were introduced last year.

On November 1 last year the agency visited Jee Foo Chinese takeaway on Charminster Road, Bournemouth.

Following checks, three Chinese nationals – a 31-year-old woman and two men aged 30 and 35 – were found to have no legal right to work in the UK.

Their employers were fined £12,500 after no documentation was produced to prove legally required document checks had been carried out.

Jane Farleigh, regional director of the UK Border Agency in Wales and the South West, said: “These substantial fines show how seriously we are taking the problem of illegal working.

“The use of illegal workers presents a serious risk to legitimate competition and is unfair on honest employers.”

A penalty of up to £10,000 can be handed out for each illegal worker found at a business.

l Anyone who suspects illegal workers are being employed at a business in Dorset can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.