The death of a car-wash worker was condemned yesterday as a blatant example of modern slavery on Britain’s high streets.
Sandu Laurentiu, 40, a Romanian, was electrocuted last August while taking a shower in what police said were “dilapidated, cramped, rat-infested” living quarters beside the car wash where he worked in Bethnal Green, east London.
Shaip Nimani, 52, owner of the Bubbles car wash, pleaded guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence at the Old Bailey and was jailed this week for four years.
The Kosovan businessman, who came to Britain as a refugee in 1992, employed six Romanian men at the car wash, paying them £40 per day but deducting £40 every week for accommodation that was described in court as “abject squalor”.
Kevin Hyland, the independent anti-slavery commissioner, said the case was “one of the worst examples of modern slavery to be seen on the high street”.
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Mr Hyland, who was appointed by Theresa May to lead the fight against modern slavery, told The Times: “This case shows just how prevalent slavery is in our cities and towns, right there in plain sight for all to see. This was organised criminality, a high street business making money at the cost of human suffering.
“Local authorities, police and other agencies must look at what is happening in front of their eyes — in the car washes, nail bars and brothels where we know this type of crime is taking place.
“We wouldn’t let someone just turn up and open an off-licence with no inspection or regulation, yet thousands of car washes have opened up with authorities rarely asking what is going on. Let’s not wait for another death, let’s be proactive and go after the criminals who are exploiting vulnerable people on our streets.”
A spokesman for the Metropolitan police said the living quarters used by the dead man and his colleagues had been “a fire risk with plugs overloaded and extension leads plugged into more extension leads”.
Police and investigators from the health and safety executive found that fuses had been tampered with to ensure they would not blow, and the electricity meter had been bypassed to evade charges on the site.
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Other workers said they had regularly suffered electric shocks in the shower in which Mr Laurentiu died. Inspectors found that it had not been earthed.
In a victim-impact statement read to the court at the end of the case, Mr Laurentiu’s brother said he had been a “kind and loving man” who sent money regularly to his mother in Romania. It cost the family €3,600 (£3,124) to have Mr Laurentiu’s remains repatriated.
“Sandu was an unqualified labourer by trade,” the statement said. “He left Romania for the UK in search of a better life. To give you an idea, a qualified labourer in Romania only earns £200-£300 per month.
“I feel my brother was taken advantage of and exploited by Shaip Nimani during his time in the UK. It appears to me that the employment laws and rules and regulations in the UK are not strong enough, and that more needs to be done to protect the welfare and wellbeing of foreign nationals, to stop incidents like this happening again.”
Nimani was ordered to pay Mr Laurentiu’s family £20,000 in compensation and to contribute £20,000 to court costs or face a further 12 months in jail. He was banned from being a company director for ten years.