'Clueless' gangmaster broke migrant laws

Published on Thursday 29 May 2008 22:04

A "CLUELESS" Scottish gangmaster yesterday became the first person sentenced for breaking new laws designed to protect vulnerable migrant workers.

Fiona Clark, 34, of Perth, was ordered to carry out 140 hours of community service and placed on probation for 18 months for providing labour to farms in Tayside without a licence.

The single mother was supplying around 20 workers, mostly from eastern Europe, to pick and process potatoes. But inspectors from the Gangmasters Licensing Authority refused her a certificate when she was found to be flouting new rules.

She admitted failing to keep proper wage records and holding on to a worker's passport.

Sheriff Kevin Veal watched a DVD outlining the exploitation of foreign workers in the UK's food industry – including the deaths of 23 Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay in 2004 – before passing sentence at Forfar Sheriff Court.

Prosecutor Donna Brown said Clark's business was paid 20,000 by the farmers during November 2006, when she was flouting the law.

She said the offences were not "towards the upper end", adding: "She was fairly clueless."

Ms Brown said: "If you don't keep these records, nobody knows what the workers are actually coming away with."

Sheriff Veal said: "These labourers are guests in our country, they work many long and unsocial hours, and their physical labour benefits us all. Their presence must be respected."