A tip-off to the Home Office landed a Chichester restaurant in hot water after an illegal worker was found in its kitchen.
As a result, an application was submitted to the district council to review the premises licence held by Piddes, which is based in Chichester Gate.
During a meeting of the licensing committee last week, representations were heard from the Home Office and an agent for licence holder Zulfukar Orak.
While the committee could have revoked the licence, it chose instead to remove Mr Orak from his position as Designated Premises Supervisor at the Turkish restaurant.
This was seen to be the ‘fair’ choice by his agent, who warned that, given the impact of the pandemic, the energy crisis and the increasing cost of food, revoking the licence would ‘kill this restaurant – it will close’.
The committee heard that the illegal worker was found at the restaurant in December 2023, having arrived in the UK in April 2023 on a six-month business visa.
A spokeswoman for the Home Office said that not only did he have no right to work in the UK but he also had no right to be here at all.
He was arrested and has since applied for asylum.
Mr Orak’s agent insisted that the man was not working at the restaurant, despite being seen chopping food in the kitchen while wearing an apron.
He also had a note in his pocket which said ‘I am a chef’ and a number of other phrases in English, which the Home Office felt suggested that he was looking for work.
And, while he and Mr Orak said he was not being paid, he was staying at Mr Orak’s home – a situation which the Home Office saw as being ‘payment in kind’.
The spokeswoman said the Home Office was looking to impose a civil penalty – a fine which could be as much as £20,000 – for employing an illegal worker.
Mr Orak’s agent said the man was a long-standing family friend who ‘was not working for the restaurant, was not paid any money’ and ‘was allowed to cook in the restaurant for himself – not unreasonable’.
He insisted that the apron the man was wearing could ‘in no way be considered a uniform’ – though the Home Office spokeswoman pointed out that only staff should be in the kitchen and wondered why he wasn’t cooking at Mr Orak’s home.
Committee chairman Iain Ballantyne said members were satisfied the incident was ‘an isolated event based on the cultural belief of Mr Orak’s intent in helping friends and family’.
