Indian man prosecuted for working illegally at UK pub

London, Aug 22 (IANS) An Indian man has been sentenced in the UK after he was found working illegally as a door supervisor at a pub during a routine inspection by police and security agencies.

Vikramjit Sharma, who was sentenced at Worcester Magistrates' Court this month, was asked to pay a 250-pound fine and a victim surcharge of 100 pounds.

In addition, the court ordered him to pay the full 1,663.80 pounds prosecution costs and a collection order was imposed, a release by UK's Security Industry Authority (SIA) said on Monday.

The case began when West Mercia Police joined SIA investigators to carry out a routine inspection of Worcester’s night time economy on November 4, 2022.

The investigators approached a well-known pub chain where two men were working as door supervisors.

Sharma was one of them and he was displaying his SIA licence, the release stated.

Checks revealed the licence had been revoked by the SIA -- responsible for regulating the private security industry in the country -- on September 5, 2022 as Sharma had no longer any right to work in the UK.

He was contacted several times and told that his licence had been revoked and he was given 21 days to appeal the SIA’s decision.

The SIA also told him to return the licence.

During the inspection on November 4, 2022 the SIA’s investigators established that Sharma had made an entry in the pub’s signing in-book.

The venue had a security contract and had subcontracted to another company, and it was this company that employed Sharma to the venue and they remain under investigation.

Sharma told investigators from SIA that he had no knowledge that his licence had been revoked, but evidence showed that he had accessed his online account repeatedly during the period.

SIA investigators took Sharma’s licence off him.

The investigators sought to further interview Sharma under caution but he failed to engage with them.

He was also due to appear in court on June 23 but failed to attend, according to the security agency.

"SIA licence holders must be ‘fit and proper’ people to protect the public. Sharma’s licence had been revoked. He is now unable to work in private security and has a criminal record," Mark Chapman, one of the SIA’s Criminal Investigations Managers, said.