TRIAL: Carlisle Crown Court A Carlisle car wash worker claimed he had no breaks during busy periods, suffered “cracked hands” from cleaning chemicals and slept on a mattress “full of bugs” in “very dirty” staff accommodation. At the city’s crown court yesterday, the man became the third employee to give evidence from the witness box in the trial of three men who deny alleged modern slavery crimes. These centre on Shiny hand car wash, Warwick Road, and were allegedly committed during 2016 and 2017. The man recalled travelling from London and initial employment at a different Carlisle car wash before transferring to Shiny, where his cousin also worked.
TRIAL: Carlisle Crown Court A Carlisle car wash worker claimed he had no breaks during busy periods, suffered “cracked hands” from cleaning chemicals and slept on a mattress “full of bugs” in “very dirty” staff accommodation. At the city’s crown court yesterday, the man became the third employee to give evidence from the witness box in the trial of three men who deny alleged modern slavery crimes. These centre on Shiny hand car wash, Warwick Road, and were allegedly committed during 2016 and 2017. The man recalled travelling from London and initial employment at a different Carlisle car wash before transferring to Shiny, where his cousin also worked.
1/1 A crown court jury has heard from a Romanian worker who said he was paid £20 for a nine-day stint at a Carlisle car wash business. The man was giving evidence in the case of three men accused of conspiring to force Romanian nationals to perform “forced labour . The defendants – Sitar Ali, 33, Defrim Paci, 42, and Jetmir Paci, 37 – all deny offences arising out of events at the city’s Warwick Road Shiny Car Wash business. They are accused of conspiring, between January 2016 and June of the following year, to require their employees to perform “forced or compulsory labour” at the car wash business.
He was in charge of wiping off cars and operating jet washes. Asked what else was used to clean vehicles, he replied: “Shampoo, acid and another substance. First of all, we were spraying a blue clear substance.”
He continued: “Then the acid was sprayed onto the wheels of the cars. It was a very toxic substance.
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“When it made contact with the water there was a lot of steam released, and it would make you feel hot. I was coughing an awful lot.”
Asked whether he told boss Sitar Ali, he responded: “Yes. I showed it to him, my very cracked hands because of the shampoo.”