Owner of Fiveways Car Wash, in Barton Mills, near Mildenhall, banned as a company director for hiring illegal workers

The owner of a Suffolk car wash has been banned as a company director for hiring illegal workers.

Vittorio Dragoti, 28, illegally hired four people from Romania to work at Fiveways Car Wash, at Fiveways Roundabout, near Barton Mills.

Dragoti, of Queensway, Mildenhall, was director of Vito’s Car Care Ltd, but has been banned from being a company director for seven years.

The firm was fined £180,000 after immigration officers raided the site in April last year, which remains unpaid.

According to The Insolvency Service, all four men were aged between 18 and 49 with no right to work in the UK.

Dave Magrath, director of investigation and enforcement services at the Insolvency Service, said company directors had an obligation to hire people who had a right to work in the UK.

He said: “Consumers deserve to have confidence that workers providing services to them are not working illegally. And the workers themselves deserve to not be put in such a vulnerable position by people who may exploit their immigration status.

“Vittorio Dragoti’s disqualification as a company director is a result of ongoing close collaboration between the Insolvency Service and our partners at the Home Office to clamp down on rogue directors.”

Dragoti’s ban came into effect on May 15. He is forbidden from being a company director until 2032.

He had been at the helm of Vito’s Car Care Ltd since March 2019.

Cheryl Daldry, the Home Office’s East of England immigration compliance and enforcement lead, felt this was a great example of the serious consequences for firms who fail to conduct background checks on the people they hire.

She said: “Dragoti flouted our employment and immigration rules by employing multiple people with no right to work in the UK, resulting in long term enforcement action against himself and his business.

“I would like to thank our partners at the Insolvency Service for their help to secure these sanctions against this non-compliant employer.”

The ban prevents Dragoti from becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without court permission.