Immigration raid causes Peterborough kebab house to have licence reviewed

An application has been made to review the licence of Ali’s Kebab House, on Fitzwillaim Street, in the city centre after the premises was raided by officers from the East of England Immigration Compliance and Enforcement Team.

The raid happened on May 18 and officers issued a civil penalty notice after finding at least one male working there illegally.

In a heavily redacted document, a representative from the Immigration Compliance and Enforcement Team said: “We arrived at Ali’s Kebabs for about 9:25pm on Wed May 18 and immediately after I sought entry to their premises by fully informed consent, however, this was refused.

“As our presence became known, two individuals tried to leave out the rear exit and were subsequently stopped by the rear cover officers. The second male was working there illegally- he currently has an asylum claim ongoing.

"As permission to enter was denied, we were trying to obtain permission and during this time one of the workers behind the counter deceived officers and absconded.

“Due to the illegal working, they were issued with a civil penalty notice.

"We had a look around for paperwork but there was none apart from a notebook with their takings from Just Eat and a couple of food hygiene certificates dated 2019. As an employer, it is important that he has records on the premises relating to employees.”

In light of this, the team has lodged an application with Peterborough City Council’s licencing committee to review the application granted to the premises.