A supermarket in Southall has been allowed to continue trading after being found to have employed a worker who did not have the legal right to work in the UK and was allegedly unpaid.

Sira Superstore, located on King Street, appeared before Ealing Council’s licensing subcommittee, which decided the business could remain open. The supermarket denies knowingly employing an illegal worker and is appealing a financial penalty issued by the Home Office.

Immigration enforcement officers, accompanied by council officials, visited the store on 9 May 2025. During the inspection, three individuals were detained on suspicion of illegal working. Further checks confirmed that none of them had permission to work in the UK. One individual had overstayed a visa, while the other two were former students whose visas had expired.

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One of those detained told immigration officers that she had worked at the supermarket for several months and had been paid £5 per hour, well below the legal minimum wage. However, the store’s designated premises supervisor (DPS), Minda Sira, told councillors that she had not been paid at all.

Mr Sira said the individual was undertaking what he described as a trial period lasting around two and a half months, during which she worked one shift per week.

As a result of the investigation, Sira Superstore was issued with a £40,000 civil penalty for employing an illegal worker. The business submitted an appeal against the fine the day before the licensing hearing, and the penalty has not yet been paid.

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The licensing panel also heard that the Southall premises had previously been linked to illegal working. In March 2017, police and immigration officers identified two employees at the same location who were found to have no right to work in the UK.

Mr Sira, who acted as designated premises supervisor during both the 2017 and 2025 incidents, had previously been warned about illegal working. However, he and his representative argued that the earlier case should not be considered, as the business operating at the premises had changed.

They explained that in 2020 the premises licence was transferred from Mr Sira as an individual to General Superstore Ltd, a company in which his son was a director until July 2025. Although Mr Sira remained in the role of DPS throughout this period, councillors accepted that the two incidents involved different business entities.

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The designated premises supervisor is responsible for the day-to-day running of licensed premises and for ensuring compliance with licensing conditions. Despite Mr Sira continuing in that role, the panel agreed to treat the earlier offence as unrelated to the current case.

Announcing the decision, Councillor Rima Baaklini said the subcommittee concluded that the 2017 incident was not relevant to the present matter.

“The subcommittee determined that the earlier incident should be regarded as entirely separate,” she said, “as it related to a different business entity, despite the same individual holding the role of designated premises supervisor on both occasions.”

Image: Sira Superstore
Source/Credit: Google Street View