A West Midlands gangmaster has been caught out following a Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) inspection revealing that he had been deceiving the GLA and exploiting workers.

Kashmir Singh, director of New Horizons Personnel Limited, has now had two licences revoked and one licence application refused.

In the judgement dismissing the appeal against the latest revocation decision, Singh was declared “not a fit and proper person” to act as a gangmaster after repeated exploitation of vulnerable workers and repeatedly attempting to mislead the GLA.

The GLA estimates that Singh would have made £3,900 a year from rounding down workers’ pay, although the workers would have been paying National Insurance contributions and tax on the full amount.

Three vehicles used by Singh had not been tested to ensure they met mandatory safety standards. Singh did all he could to conceal this from GLA inspectors. However, with support from the Vehicle & Operator Services Agency (VOSA), the GLA ensured his attempts to deceive were unsuccessful.

GLA investigations also found that signed statements and answers given when interviewed were false, where Singh denied providing accommodation to workers, and also falsely declared his place of birth.

John Sherratt, the appointed person who heard the appeal, said: “Mr Singh, as the principal authority, has exploited workers by depriving them of the pennies in their wages and that he has caused the company to fail to comply with obligations to VOSA… The wages issue was in my judgement a persistent and systematic exploitation of the workers.

“To allow the appellant company time to take steps to wind down its business and to terminate the employment of the workers in an orderly fashion and in compliance with the Employment Rights Act 1996, this decision will take effect at 17:00 on Tuesday, 31 March 2009, after which time the appellant company must cease trading within the sectors regulated by the GLA.”

Paul Whitehouse, chairman of the GLA said: “We have come across Mr Singh before. His actions have harmed the workers, given him an unfair competitive advantage over hard working, legitimate gangmasters and defrauded the public of tax revenue.”

Singh was previously the director of Newtex Ltd, another gangmaster business that had its licence revoked on July 23, 2008.

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