"I had rats and illegal worker in my cafe but it's not my fault"

THE AUTHORITIES have found an illegal worker and mouse poo in a Lewisham cafe – although the owner insists he’s not to blame.

The Home Office issued a whopping £45k penalty after discovering the illegal worker inside Chefs Treat in Lewisham High Street.

Chefs Treat was also handed a 1 out of 5 food hygiene rating after a council inspector found “mice droppings” on the floor of the business.

But the cafe’s owner, Tahir Tahir, has denied responsibility for both of the issues.

He insists he was duped by the illegal worker and claims he cannot stop the rodents because of flytipping in the street behind his business.

**PICTURED: Mr Tahir wants the council to act on the flytipping**

Mr Tahir, who owns Chefs Treat through his firm T & E Catering Limited, said: “The illegal worker was from Cyprus.

“He gave me photoshopped documents showing he had the right to work in the UK.

“He showed me a letter which said his national insurance card will arrive shortly and he has been approved and has the right to work in this country.”

Mr Tahir added that the illegal worker cannot be deported from the UK as he’s had a child here. He said the worker had deleted their WhatsApp conversations, which included the “fake” documents he sent him, after immigration enforcement visited the cafe.

When asked about the droppings in his restaurant, Mr Tahir continued: “Whatever I do inside here (the cafe), I can’t stop it. If there wasn’t flytipping outside, I wouldn’t have rats in here. What am I going to do, build a metal wall?

**PICTURED: Mattresses, pallets, rubbish bags and more are piled up behind the cafe**

“Sometimes the bin guys don’t go further down there because the rats are huge. They’re scared.

“The rats are just feasting on the rubbish. It’s disgusting.

“People dump rubbish there every day. I sent pictures of people dumping the rubbish to the council. I want them to take action.”

The cafe owner, who said he regularly brings in pest control, showed the Lewisham Letter videos he had sent to the local council showing flytipping in the street.

One local told us that he had seen rats “as big as my hand” scurrying out from underneath the huge mounds of rubbish behind the cafe.

Mr Tahir emailed the council videos of the waste in an attempt to prove his own innocence after he was issued with a fine for flytipping.

However, mouse droppings were not the only issue that the council found at the cafe during its inspection in October last year.

No flytipping signs have failed to stop people dumping rubbing — **PICTURED: No flytipping signs have failed to stop people dumping rubbish**

The inspector also discovered a chopped tomato and a mobile phone on a red chopping board which was used for cutting raw meat.

Mr Tahir, 32, claims he fired the worker responsible for this mistake.

The Home Office, which in December last year fined T & E Catering Limited £45k for hiring an illegal worker, said: “Right to work checks can be completed in one of 3 ways.

“A manual check of original documents from a prescribed list of acceptable documents (all), a check using a digital verification service (British and Irish citizens) or a Home Office online check (foreign nationals with an immigration status that can be checked via the service).

“Where a manual check of physical documents is carried out, employers must be in possession of the original documents.

“If an employer is found to be employing someone illegally and has not carried out the checks specified in Home Office regulations, the employer may face sanctions including a civil penalty of up to £60,000 per illegal worker for repeat breaches.

Chefs Treat frontage — **PICTURED: Chefs Treat has been fined £45k for hiring an illegal worker**

“Illegal working undermines honest employers, undercuts local wages, and fuels the criminal industry of immigration crime.

“This government is determined to clamp down on that illegal activity in every sector where it occurs, including the care sector.

“Since coming to power, enforcement action nationwide has increased, with visits and arrests up by around 50% on the previous twelve months, and we will be stepping up that action further in the year ahead.”

A Lewisham Council spokesman said: “Tackling fly-tipping is a priority for us and we take a zero-tolerance approach towards people illegally dumping rubbish.

“We are sorry that on this occasion our service fell below our usual high standards. We will review our procedures and redouble our efforts.

“We encourage people to report fly-tipping that needs clearing – via our Love Clean Streets app and by emailing: [email protected].

“The more information and evidence we have about fly-tippers the better the chance we have of finding and fining them – up to £1,000 – and stopping them from doing it again.”

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“I had rats and illegal worker in my cafe but it’s not my fault”

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