The owner of a Croydon nail salon has described an immigration raid that uncovered three suspected illegal workers as "a difficult situation," insisting they were not employed and simply dropped in to look around.
Vi Nails on Church Street could now face a substantial fine as the Home Office considers its case. Immigration enforcement officers visited the salon on June 10, where three Vietnamese nationals – two men and one woman – were identified as suspected immigration offenders during the operation. The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) witnessed the raid at around 3pm, as more than 10 officers entered the salon, spoke to workers, and searched both floors of the premises.
After the raid, a man who gave his name as 'Peter' and said he runs the salon alongside his older brother, told the LDRS he had never employed the individuals in question and was not at the premises when officers arrived. He said he had travelled to Birmingham to visit a relative and only became aware of the operation after staff informed him.
"I never employed those people," he said. "I don't know any of them."
On Companies House, Vi Nails has two people listed as officers of the business. Minh Quang Pham is listed as the Director, while Thi Vui Pham is listed as the Secretary. Vi Nails has been based on Church Street for more than 20 years and currently employs three full-time nail technicians. Peter said the salon had never previously encountered issues involving suspected illegal workers.
He told the LDRS that people occasionally enter the salon without being customers, which he said was not unusual for a town centre business. "Sometimes people come in and say 'I have got no place to go,'" he said. "People come in, I say 'what do you need.' If I don't know them they look around a bit and then go."
However, he maintained there was little he could do to stop people entering the premises. "I can't stop them coming in to have a look, it is a difficult situation," he said.
During the visit, a crowd of onlookers gathered outside the shopfront on Church Street. Several staff members from nearby nail bars also gathered to watch from the street. One nail bar worker who watched the raid unfold told the LDRS they were surprised by the large number of officers in attendance. However, they added that it was not the first time they had witnessed an immigration enforcement raid in the area.
Speaking more broadly about immigration, Peter said many people come to the UK looking for employment opportunities, particularly from his native Vietnam. "There is a lot of immigration all over," he said. "I notice a lot of my people, when they come here they want to work. If the law allowed them to work they would work, they would stay out of trouble. Ninety-nine per cent of people from my culture want to come here and work because our homeland is poor."
"What can you do though," he told the LDRS. "The law is the law and I don't want to get fined."
Following the raid, the Home Office issued the business with a Civil Penalty Referral Notice. Its Civil Penalty Compliance Team will now review the evidence and decide whether to impose a civil penalty. Businesses can face fines of up to £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach, rising to £60,000 per worker for repeat non-compliance.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "Illegal working undermines honest employers, undercuts local wages, and fuels organised immigration crime. This government will not stand for it. Since coming into power, we have increased immigration enforcement action to the highest level in British history. This has delivered an 83% rise in illegal working arrests and 77% rise in raids."
