Illegal immigrants found at Claridge's

Claridge's hotel in London has admitted that it was raided by immigration officials who took away seven illegal immigrants.

The staff, who were employed by the hotel, held housekeeping and back of house jobs. They comprised one Ghanaian, one Ukrainian and two Lithuanian men, and one Romanian and two Lithuanian women.

According to the Home Office, two were asylum-seekers, four had work visas that had expired, and one was an illegal entrant.

The raid took place last month and all seven have been deported.

Chris Cowdray, general manager of Claridge's, said the hotel had been within its rights to employ the staff.

He said: "All our records are meticulous and totally correct. Immigration has no issue with Claridge's on this. We were totally in our rights to have these people and there was nothing the hotel could have done about it."

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "The hotel did co-operate with the operation and no action is being taken against the hotel. It is not often so clear cut as to say that if the workers were employed by the hotel then it was the hotel's fault."

Claridge's has 203 bedrooms and employs 360 full-time staff. It also has part-time staff, taking its workforce to more than 400.

Claridge's is the second major London hotel to be raided by immigration officers this year. In May officers took away 15 housekeepers from the Copthorne Tara, some of whom were also subsequently deported.

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 12-18 September 2002