Anti-slavery enforcers launch car wash checks

A squad of anti-slavery enforcers visited London car washes in a major response to the Evening Standard’s special investigation into slavery.

The Standard yesterday exposed the horrors of Britain’s car washes, where young men report being tricked and trapped, sleeping four to a room and subjected to injury and even death.

It was reported that Sandu Laurentiu-Sava, a 40-year-old Romanian, died by electrocution while showering in squalid quarters attached to the car wash where he worked in Bethnal Green. Others told of “leprosy-like” damage to their hands from using chemicals without gloves.

Officers from the Met police’s Modern Slavery and Kidnap Unit, Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), and the HMRC launched a series of joint car-wash welfare visits after this newspaper urged authorities to act.

The Standard accompanied officials on visits to four hand car washes in east London. Staff told how they worked 12-hour days for as little as £3 an hour, revealing to officers that they “just work, eat and sleep”.

They were seen washing cars in trainers and jeans, some of them not wearing gloves — often a cause for alarm, according to UK slavery experts. One Romanian, who asked not to be named, said he worked gruelling hours in cold weather, and was constantly soaked. “I work 12 hours a day, six days a week, for £40 a day. It’s very difficult,” he said, adding that he did not have a passport or bank account.

“You stay with your feet in water all day. Even in winter, I am not wearing boots.” During the visits, officers also found a 17-year-old who said he had fled slavery in his native Albania hoping for a better life in the UK.

He told officers how he then ended up working 10 to 12 hour days in a car wash for low pay.

Chris Flint, investigator for the GLAA, said the multi-agency inspections were crucial to identifying labour abuses, from minimum wage infractions to the extremes of coercion, threat and injury.

Although the men did not identify themselves as victims of slavery during the visits, officers saw “clear hidden-economy exploitation”, he said, adding: “It’s all about protecting those exploited workers — and this is a fantastic example of that. We should be doing this day in, day out. Joint working works.” More welfare visits are planned as the Metropolitan police seek to tackle “vulnerable premises” such as car washes.

A new monthly meeting at Scotland Yard has also been launched between agencies that deal with modern slavery to share intelligence and combine efforts.

Help end slavery by visiting the Evening Standard's digital action platform.