BOSSES of a car wash have been fined after the Home Office found it had employed two foreign workers illegally.

The Shiny Hand Car Wash in Barrow was handed the fine after it was raided by immigration enforcement officers.

The Home Office said one Iraqi national and one Iranian national were working illegally at the car wash, in Roose Road.

A spokeswoman said neither of the two men had permission to work in the UK.

The business has now been fined £15,000.

The car wash was formerly owned by Defrim Paci and Sitar Ali, who were jailed last year for modern slavery offences at another branch in Carlisle.

It is now managed by new owners.

According to the Home Office, the enforcement visit took place on June 17 following a tip-off.

Immigration enforcement vans were seen parked on the car wash forecourt at around 6.30pm on the day.

Details of the fine were released by the Home Office in a round-up of civil penalties handed to business. 

 A Home Office spokesperson said: “The government is tackling illegal immigration and the harm it causes by removing those with no right to be in the UK. 

"We continue to work with law enforcement agencies to tackle illegal migration in all its forms. 

“Our New Plan for Immigration will fix the broken system; making it fair to those in genuine need and firm on those who seek to abuse it.”

The Home Office said the public expected any potential breach of immigration rules to be investigated.

Barrow MP Simon Fell said: "I know that the police have been doing some work on this recently, alerting local businesses to the risks of employing people with no right to work in the UK.

"What appears to be cheap labour that can be kept off the books can be very costly indeed."

Between October, 2008, and November 2009, Defrim Paci was involved in the running of the Shiny Car Wash in Loughborough and the Shiny Car Wash in Barrow.

Defrim Paci also held the leasehold for the land at the Barrow car wash.

The Mail attempted to contact bosses of the Shiny Car Wash.