EXCLUSIVE My neighbours have built an extension over my property by 15 INCHES... it has destroyed my home and left me facing £85k bill
A single mother has claimed a neighbour 'destroyed' her home after building a new wall that encroaches onto her property by 15 inches.
Brenda Grant, from Uxbridge, west London, said Amarjit Singh Dhunna sliced her plastic conservatory roof to build his own extension wall, but left small gaps allowing water to run and leak into her property.
After taking the case to court, Ms Grant owes £25k to her solicitor and fears she could lose her home of 22 years.
The mother-of-one also faces a £60k bill to fix the water damage to her walls and floors.
Ms Grant told MailOnline: 'Since he cut the roof, water has been coming into the conservatory; I have a report from a builder that it is destroyed.
'This has made me depressed. I have anxiety and panic attacks. I lock myself in the house and I am withdrawn, I don't come out.
'My son [is so depressed] he doesn't go to school. Basically he locks himself in his room.'
Do YOU have a story? Email katherine.lawton@mailonline.co.uk
After the building work went ahead in March 2021, Ms Grant lodged a complaint claiming she had never been informed and businessman Mr Dhunna did not have planning permission to cut the roof and build over it.
A small store room connects her property to Mr Dhunna's next door and the pair disagree about where the boundary lies.
However, when Ms Grant got a land surveyor out to investigate, a report suggested Mr Dhunna's new wall hangs over the boundary line by 0.4metres - around 15 inches.
She claims her neighbour had no right to cut the plastic roof and argued the new wall clearly hangs over onto her land.
Ms Grant said: 'I sit in the house and I cry all day because I can't believe that someone's cut my roof.
'It's traumatising to point that I just want to kill myself, [...] even my son wanted to kill himself because of the amount of emotional stress, panic attacks, and he's lost out on five years of his life.'
In October 2021, months after the work took place, Mr Dhunna - who does not live in the property but houses tenants there - received retrospective planning permission for the build by Hillingdon Council.
'It was given to him even though I tried to tell the council that he's on my land,' Ms Grant said.
The red line shows the boundary between the two properties. The green line suggests Mr Dhunna's new roof line is hanging over onto Ms Grant's land
'When they cut the roof, because they didn't put any gutter in or any lead flashing, when it rains the water comes down into the property, so it's destroyed the conservatory.
'The floor is sunk and the walls have subsided inside. So the builder said it's £60,000 for that.'
Ms Grant claims she has hired three land surveyors who have all stated encroachment onto her land.
The court case is set to continue next week at Central London County Court.
Ms Grant worked in customer service for British Airways but was let go as a result of poor mental health.
She has now set up a GoFundMe in a desperate bid to raise the money for her legal costs.
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Daily Mail
37 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Britain's traveller land-grab blitz revealed: The communities under siege from 'illegal' developments that have left locals 'powerless' to stop them
Land-grabbing travellers are blitzing Britain, seizing secluded plots of countryside 'illegally' to turn them into vast caravan parks - with a new map today laying bare the scale of the crisis now blighting the nation. Over the past two months, scores of communities across the UK have seen unauthorised camps springing up in isolated fields, prized rural green belts and protected national parks. The blight has affected villages and towns in Buckinghamshire, West Sussex, Nottinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Gloucester, Devon, Worcestershire, Cheshire and in Hampshire's New Forest, MailOnline has found. Terrified locals say they are 'powerless' to act, with some fearful of reprisals for speaking out against the shameless flouting of strict planning laws. Meanwhile, furious MPs have lambasted the travellers' brazen tactics, which they say makes a 'mockery' of the building development rules millions of law-abiding Britons are forced to abide by. However, those breaching the rules have insisted they are doing it because of the nationwide glut of official sites, and the 'stigma' nomadic residents in the traveller and gypsy communities face staying at the road side. 'We want to make a home where we can raise our children, giving them access to education and medical facilities that we never had growing up, we just want to improve our children's futures and our families' living standards,' one traveller said. In the space of a few weeks, at least nine 'illegal' sites have appeared across the UK - all seemingly using a 'carbon copy' modus operandi. However, this is feared to be just the tip of the iceberg, with many more having been set up in previous years. It's seen those behind the builds carrying out 'military-style' operations to rapidly construct new traveller developments before officials can stop them, transforming rural plots of field and grassland into sprawling, concreted caravan parks. In Devon, a group of suspected travellers launched a blitzkrieg at the start of last week, using diggers and industrial kit to effectively demolish a former pony field in just 24 hours, leaving residents horrified. 'This is an atrocity... it's devastated the countryside with absolutely no thought for the harm it will cause,' one furious 47-year-old woman, who lives locally, told MailOnline. 'We feel absolutely powerless right now... It's one rule for one part of society and another rule for the other.' A similar development took place on the outskirts of Burtonwood, near Warrington, in Cheshire, when bulldozers, excavators and HGVs took just 72 hours to turn a six-acre field into a large gravel car park over the last May bank holiday. 'I have never felt so impotent as a councillor in not being able to do something,' local politician Stuart Mann said. 'It was a military operation in terms of how [the travellers] achieved it.' In the Worcestershire village of Hagley, more than a dozen trucks arrived on one field at 3.30am on Good Friday in April, working through the night to turn it into a caravan park, with hard-standing, fencing and even a children's play area installed. 'We're scared... we feel absolutely powerless right now,' one 42-year-old resident told MailOnline. 'Everyone has had to up their security now. 'All this has happened in the space of 48 hours. They were so fast. I've never known anything to happen so fast. It was insane. 'They arrived at 3.30am. It was non-stop. They arrived with lorry after lorry. Nobody knew what to do. Everyone was calling 101. 'It's made everyone feel a little uneasy. People are worried about their safety.' Sleepy villages dotted around Nottinghamshire have also been targeted. In Balderton, a group of travellers used excavators, diggers and large trucks to flatten a plot of land 'dangerously close' to a major high-speed railway line. The works took place during May's VE Day bank holiday and was completed in just three days before council officials were able to serve an enforcement notice ordering the remaining construction to be halted. 'We felt sick. Your stomach drops out,' one local said. 'We thought this was our forever home. We love the neighbours - then suddenly they turn up and build a traveller camp on our doorstep. It's going to reduce the value of properties here.' A similar development took place a few miles north, between the nearby villages of Weston and Egmanton. A huge 40-pitch caravan site was built over the Easter bank holiday in April without planning permission. The site, in a field off the A1, was also finished in a few days, with tarmac roads and fences installed. Locals said they had also seen septic tanks sunk, electricity and water illegitimately connected, and key drainage dykes filled to create the site access. In Buckinghamshire, the rural village of Lee Gate was targeted over the May bank holiday, with diggers levelling a field without permission before five caravans and a static mobile home appeared. The isolated community is just a few miles away from the former homes of Hollywood A-listers Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who once owned a property in Gerrards Cross - dubbed the 'Beverly Hills of Buckinghamshire'. Other former celebrity neighbours reportedly included the 'Prince of Darkness' Ozzy Osbourne, Oasis mega star Noel Gallagher, and late British TV icon, Cilla Black. An enforcement notice has been served by the local council. Meanwhile, worried residents are braced to stage a community meeting on June 24 to finalise a battleplan to tackle the travellers' unauthorised build. One horrified neighbour, who asked not to be named, found out about the sudden encampment while on holiday in the Canary Islands with his wife. 'Our neighbour messaged us saying people with diggers, trucks - you name it - had arrived at 5.30am and were carrying out work,' he said. 'They just barged through the fence with a digger and built their own gate because the road with shared access to the field was too narrow. 'When we found out we were horrified. It was absolutely disgusting. 'Police were there within an hour but they couldn't do much to stop it. 'The council put a stop notice there. But the whole area has been flattened, six pitches created. Now we're stuck with them.' In the Bedfordshire town of Felmersham, travellers moved onto a field they own in Pavenham Road over the Easter holiday and are now seeking to make it a permanent camp. Bedfordshire Borough Council served the group with a temporary stop notice which bans them from spreading stones, gravel or tarmac on the land. The council has since received a retrospective planning application for a change of use of the field, which, if approved, would see five residential pitches for 11 mobile homes and four caravans, parking, groundwork and landscaping. During the VE Day bank holiday at the start of May a stunning patch of protected West Sussex countryside, in the heart of the South Downs National Park, was devastated by travellers. The tranquil plot off Blind Lane, in Lurgashall near Petworth, was transformed into a building site as heavy machinery ploughed through the field without planning permission, turning it into gravel car park, with 10 caravans later appearing there. It's unclear who was responsible for the unauthorised development. It has triggered legal action from Chichester District Council, which served a stop notice ordering all works to cease. Andrew Griffith, Arundel and South Downs MP, was appalled by the unauthorised development and feared it was just one of a series of 'landgrabs' taking place nationwide. 'These are clearly deliberate and meticulously planned operations,' Mr Griffith, the Conservatives' Shadow Business and Trade Secretary, told MailOnline. 'In the Lurgashall case it took far too long for the local council to act leaving ratepayers and residents at the mercy of this devastating planning blight. 'It is clearly foreseeable that bank holiday weekends are the moment of maximum danger and yet that's when town halls fail to ensure staff cover.' He added: 'It makes a mockery of a system where we all jump through lengthy and costly hoops to install a dormer window when such brazen breaches happen unchecked.' Across the Sussex border and into Hampshire, the New Forest has also been impacted. Residents living in the quintessentially British community of Burley have lashed out over the unauthorised development on the outskirts of the village. Those behind the project have been accused of shamelessly flouting planning rules by paving over part of a field and installing a number of caravans and mobile homes. It's led to a months-long row, with a judgement on whether a retrospective planning application to allow it to stay or not, set to be made in a matter of weeks. However, it has sparked a fierce backlash, with one ex-minister raging those behind the scheme should have their 'civil rights... forfeited' over the flagrant rule break. One villager fumed: 'The travellers have shown complete disregard for the community... It's a level of disrespect. They have come in and destroyed protected lands without permission.' The woodland idyll, nestled between Southampton and Bournemouth, is home to about 1,350 people and is heavily reliant on tourism in the summer. It has no railway station, one primary school, a village shop and a sporadic bus service. Those living there are fiercely protective of their historic home's unspoilt, natural surroundings and have been left outraged by the gypsy development. The site, on a former pony field off Ringwood Road, was converted without permission several weeks ago. It's a stone's throw away from the luxury Burley Manor hotel, which is a medieval Grade II-listed building. Those on the camp have since submitted a retrospective planning bid for two static caravans, two touring caravans, parking, bin and cycle stores, e-bike charging points, boundary fencing, and an extension of existing hardstanding. MailOnline understands the site is home to two families, who own the land. The proposals - which are yet to be decided by the New Forest National Park Authority (NFNPA) - triggered a furious response, with dozens of objections lodged. Local Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne is also among those attacking the development, which he says had 'alarmed' his constituents. 'It's not been helped by the rather aggressive sign put up, that strikes fear into the community,' he added. 'What sort of people are these, who are putting up this intimidatory sign telling people to 'keep out' or the dogs will get you'?' A deadline for a decision on the application is July 2 - however, officials at the NFNPA hope to have made a judgement before this date. However, former minister Sir Desmond feared the controversial scheme could be approved on the basis of 'human rights', allowing travellers to remain on the land instead of dismantling all the work that has already been undertaken there. Hitting out, the New Forest West MP told MailOnline: 'When you break the law you should forfeit your civil rights. Breaches in the law – even in planning regulations - should not be whipped through on the basis of human rights.' The application has been submitted by Michael Chalk and Tom Butler, who live on the site with their families. Planning consultant Tony White, who is representing the pairs' development bid, told MailOnline: 'Nationally councils have persistently failed to meet the statutory obligations to provide sites and pitches to meet the identified needs of gypsies and travellers. 'Faced with tougher policing powers to prevent roadside stopping, many gypsies and travellers feel they have no choice but to move on to their own privately-owned land before obtaining planning permission and are often forced to do so because of prejudice they encounter when roadside. 'The site prior to the two young families moving on, consisted of a brick built stable bock, large area of hardstanding and paddocks, they have carried out very little work to facilitate the occupation of the site, all of which can and will be removed should they be unsuccessful in the planning process. 'It is recognised that some residents will have concerns about the change or by travellers moving in nearby, but Mr Chalk and Mr Butler have in large part been made to feel very welcome in the village and are looking forward to their children attending the local schools and the families integrating with the settled community. 'Mr Buttler would like to add that they wish to reassure those residents who have expressed to the Mail they have fears or concerns, that it is only Mr Chalk's family and my family, that intend to live here and we want to make a home where we can raise our children, giving them access to education and medical facilities that we never had growing up, we just want to improve our children's futures and our families living standards.' Mr White added the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (Amended) contains provisions to 'regularise unauthorised works, through retrospective applications and lawful development certificates'. 'These are utilised for many reasons and by all sectors of communities, but I can assure you, that any decision on the planning application, will not be swayed or influenced by the applicants having moved on to their property ahead of the decision,' he said. The news comes as the number of 'illegal' traveller sites being set up across the UK continues to soar, with local councils increasingly unable to remove them. New planning policy announced by Labour housing secretary Angela Rayner in December will force councils to release green belt land for travellers to create permanent encampments if there is an 'unmet need'. At present neither temporary or permanent travellers sites are allowed on green belt land as they fail to qualify as 'very special circumstances' - but that is about to change. In the original consultation published to the National Planning Policy Framework in August, the document states: 'We intend our proposals to support the release of green belt land to address unmet needs for traveller sites.' The response to the consultation, published in December, made clear that proposals should not be regarded as 'inappropriate' in cases where there is an 'unmet need' for the type of development - including traveller sites. In January this year South Gloucestershire Council announced the location of 100 new traveller sites, many of them on precious greenbelt locations. The plan also includes safeguarding 15 existing areas for travelling showpeople - and one new site for travelling showpeople in Pucklechurch. The local authority was reprimanded by a government planning inspector back in 2022 for a 'history of policy failure' after failing to provide sufficient land for travelling communities. The council has since proposed the 'expanding or intensifying' of numbers of already-existing sites and the creation of 14 brand new locations over the next 15 years. That includes the safeguarding of greenbelt land in Pucklechurch and Hambrook for traveller communities to reside on. Meanwhile, in Darlington a new site for travellers and Gypsies in Darlington has been approved after a litany of delays and refusals. Previously planning offices said the Neasham Road site was 'not in a sustainable location' and would be 'visually intrusive within an open countryside location.' The initial proposal called for five amenity buildings, five mobile homes and five touring pitches - but that was reduced to two of each type in amended plans submitted to the council in August 2024. A planning report said: 'This small development would contribute towards the delivery of windfall Gypsy and Traveller sites within the borough. 'The location of the site was considered to be sustainable by the planning inspector (as was the adjoining site more recently by another Planning Inspector) and the visual impact of the revised development is not sufficient to justify a reason to refuse the planning application.' The applicant said the need to address a shortfall of Gypsy and traveller overrode any considerations of natural beauty or environmental concerns, calling it 'a significant material consideration that would override any limited landscape impacts.' The new sites are also by no means restricted to rural greenbelt locations though as London is set to get it first new permanent pitches in over 30 years. It was announced in November last year that Haringey's Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community were due to be handed new land to live on. After a 'comprehensive review' of potential locations, the local authority said they could accommodate six permanent pitches on vacant council land. Councillor Sarah Williams, Haringey cabinet member for housing and planning, said: 'I'm delighted to be announcing proposals for developing the first new Gypsy, Roma and Traveller sites in the capital for three decades. 'Not only is it a fitting move for our borough, which prides itself on being welcoming and diverse, it also aligns completely with our commitment as a council to providing 3,000 new, affordable and great quality homes for the future. This includes specialist housing to meet the needs of all of our communities. 'The Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community are among the most discriminated against groups in the UK and face critical challenges in accessing housing that meets their cultural needs.' A new site has also been planned for Lewisham in southeast London, the first in the borough since the previous location shut down in 2009. As well as the proliferation of new traveller camps, data shows that more and more enforcement notices are being issued against pitches, which often consist of one or more mobile homes erected on private land. In Cheltenham, the council dealt with seven unauthorised sites last year - compared to none in each of the three years before that. And similarly, Wokingham's borough council issued eight enforcement notices against unauthorised traveller sites in 2023, up from just one in 2022. Meanwhile in Wiltshire, the council dealt had dealt with four unauthorised traveller sites by the end of October last year, compared to none the year before that. Speaking previously to MailOnline on the condition of anonymity, one planning enforcement officer said: 'Over the past five years and certainly off the back of Covid there has been a sharp increase in the unauthorised development that we are seeing. 'Most of the enforcement appeals that we are dealing with at the moment concern traveller sites that have often gone up over the space of a long weekend. 'But it is a nationwide issue - most other councils are all having similar issues.' The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils across the nation, said authorities were seeking to clampdown on unauthorised landgrabs. An LGA spokesman said: 'Tackling them requires a multi-agency response and appropriate resources to support this. 'Councils take their planning enforcement powers seriously and work hard to balance the needs of all members of their communities. 'Where planning rules have been breached, councils will seek to take appropriate and proportionate action.'
Daily Mail
37 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Moment 'fare dodger' is warned he could be committing fraud after only paying for short part of his journey
This is the moment a train passenger was caught travelling on a discounted ticket without his money-saving railcard - before being reported for suspected fraud. The man was stopped by a revenue protection officer at the barriers at London Waterloo station after arriving on a South Western Railway (SWR) service. He had bought the ticket with a railcard discount but failed to present the card, meaning he faced a penalty fare of £100 plus the price of the full single fare. But the officer became suspicious when he found that the ticket from Vauxhall to Waterloo had been bought only 20 minutes earlier, and not scanned at Vauxhall. When the passenger provided his identity details and address, the officer noted that he lived in Sunbury-on-Thames, much further down the SWR line in Surrey. This meant the officer suspected that the man may have been attempting a 'short fare', which is where passengers only buy a ticket for part of your journey. Commuters on SWR often travel into London from much further afield but buy an e-ticket from a stop near Waterloo such as Vauxhall for a cheaper fare. This means they can try to go through the barriers at Waterloo and avoid paying for the full journey. The incident is the latest to feature in the popular Channel 5 programme Fare Dodgers: At War With The Law, which is airing on Monday nights at 9pm. It saw officer Jack challenge the passenger who arrived at Waterloo on a ticket from Vauxhall, telling him: 'We're checking for railcards'. The man tells Jack: 'Railcard? I don't have the railcard on me. Do I need to buy another ticket then? 'I know that if you go on the website, it can show you that you've got a railcard – does that make sense - because it's a physical one not a digital one.' But when Jack starts looking into the ticket more closely, he discovers it was bought about 20 minutes earlier and was not scanned at Vauxhall. The passenger says: 'I realised I was coming here because I was meeting my girlfriend or whatever. I live round Vauxhall.' Jack then asks the man for his details, which he provides, but his address is listed as Sunbury - not Vauxhall. Jack tells him: 'I'm going to be very blunt and very honest with you. Your address is in Sunbury, your ticket hasn't been scanned in at Vauxhall. When I report this about the railcard, they're going to investigate the ticket as part of that.' The passenger is then told that if it is found he travelled from elsewhere, he could be handed a more expensive penalty. He simply replies: 'Perfect, yeah, cheers.' And in a sign he has been through the process before, the man adds: 'They normally take quite long with this though, don't they? Takes a couple of weeks.' Asked by the officer again whether he travelled from Sunbury, the man says: 'No, no, I travelled from Vauxhall.' Jack then reports him to the fraud team, telling the programme: 'This person in particular hasn't scanned in his QR at Vauxhall. Bought it 20 minutes ago which indicates to me he may have travelled from further. 'So the railcard that he did put on the ticket, he wasn't carrying with him, so we've reported him under that fact, and then we're going to ask the fraud team to investigate the rest of it.' The case is then sent to SWR's fraud department for further investigation, with the man facing prosecution if he had not been truthful about where he travelled from. MailOnline has covered a series of incidents featured in the Channel 5 documentary, which comes as Robert Jenrick highlighted fare dodging another London station. The shadow justice secretary posted a video on social media last Thursday in which he confronted people who forced their way through the ticket barriers at Stratford. He asked one person 'do you think it's alright not to pay' and challenged another to 'go back through the barrier and pay'. At the top of an escalator he said to one person 'do you want to go back and pay like everybody else'? Mr Jenrick later told the BBC that he wants authorities to 'step up' and 'reassert these basic rules', adding that he wants transport bodies to understand 'that these things are not small rule breaks', and said he was 'unapologetic' about sharing the clip. But the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association union said the video was 'not only inappropriate but also potentially dangerous for passengers, staff and the individual involved'. Further incidents featured in the Channel 5 show have included passengers trying to push through barriers to avoid having to touch in or out. Others resort to violence if they are caught, with shocking videos filmed at stations showing passengers attacking police officers or punching security guards. Some try doing 'doughnut tickets', which is where you buy a short ticket for the first part of the journey, to scan the QR code on your entry barrier; and then another short ticket for the last section, to scan out at your destination station. This can lead to a much cheaper fare because you do not pay for the lengthier middle section of the trip - meaning there is a hole in the journey, hence the 'doughnut'. Separately, a report released on Wednesday found fare evasion is becoming 'normalised', with train staff telling the inquiry that they are struggling to cope with 'aggressive' passengers who refuse to buy tickets. Travellers are using 'a range of techniques to persistently' underpay or avoid paying and see it as a 'victimless crime ', according to the Office of Road and Rail (ORR). Staff enduring abusive behaviour when asking fare-dodgers to present their tickets are warning that evasion is becoming 'increasingly more challenging to tackle'. The report had been commissioned to look at concerns some passengers were being unfairly prosecuted by train operators over genuine mistakes when buying tickets. But it found fare evasion is a mounting problem now costing taxpayers £400million a year which is resulting in higher fares and less investment cash to improve services. Meanwhile TikTok influencers are brazenly showing Tube passengers how to illegally travel for free by 'bumping' through the station ticket barriers. Young men are filming themselves laughing and joking with each other as they push through the wide-aisle gates in videos liked by hundreds of thousands of viewers. The gates, which were first installed in 2008 at a cost of £12million, are normally used by wheelchair users, older people, parents with children and travellers with luggage. But they are increasingly being used by fare dodgers who either push through the gap in the middle, or quickly follow someone in front of them who touches out. 'Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law' is on Channel 5 on Monday evenings at 9pm
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Undercover Mail investigation exposes how crooked businesses are pocketing tens of thousands of pounds by illegally using skilled worker visas to get cheap labour for barbers, convenience stores and warehouses
Corrupt immigration advisers are helping illegal workers dupe the Home Office in a cash for visas scam, a Mail investigation has found. They are charging up to £22,000 per person to provide 'skilled' jobs in the UK for under-qualified foreign workers. It comes amid concern skilled worker visa routes could be hiding an immigration scandal 'worse than the small boats crisis'. Critics claim it could render Sir Keir Starmer 's immigration crackdown pointless after he made new restrictions on skilled visas a major tool in ending the economy's reliance on cheap overseas labour. The ruse has proved so lucrative that many companies have started up just to profit from hiring foreign staff – then shut down after a year, having extorted migrants and exploited them for cheap labour. The scam involves businesses telling the Home Office they can't find the right people in the UK and therefore need special 'sponsorship' licences to recruit workers from abroad. Immigration advisers then coach immigrants how to lie to officials, overstating their levels of education and experience to secure the visa. One adviser – a partner in a government-regulated advice firm – was secretly filmed admitting taking hefty bungs to teach foreigners how to fraudulently apply. Leicester-based Joe Estibeiro, the managing partner of an immigration advice firm, told the Mail's undercover reporter how he: Tricks the Home Office into believing employers need a certificate of sponsorship to take on overseas workers. Organises firms to advertise the positions in the UK. Helps employ immigrant workers who will officially earn about £3,000 a month to meet minimum salary requirements for the visas – but in reality they will receive only about £900 a month as they will have to hand the rest back to their boss. Secures the visas for applicants with little or only high school education in their home countries. Mr Estibeiro even claimed the Government didn't care if companies bring in unqualified staff on skilled worker visas, insisting: 'The Home Office is just interested in the money.' The foreign staff he helps recruit have to pay illegal work finder fees of between £19,000 to £22,000 to their new employer for the job and visa, with Mr Estibeiro pocketing a large commission. They then have to work 60 hours a week and, in real terms, will earn far below the minimum wage, in some cases with a take-home pay of less than £4 an hour. Mr Estibeiro, managing partner of immigration advisers Flyover International, said he works with businesses in Bradford, Leicester, Northampton and Peterborough. Incredibly, his Leicester headquarters overlooks the bureau of a Home Office affiliate where UK visa applications are processed. A long-serving recruiter for a small Hertfordshire domiciliary care company said there has been widespread abuse in the overseas recruitment of supposedly skilled workers. 'It's all gone absolutely mad,' she said. 'I don't understand how so many people are getting into this country without any checks. The situation is making the small boats crisis seem like a minor problem.' Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'These so-called immigration advisers and immigration lawyers appear very often to arrange immigration fraud. These people need to be identified.' Last night, border security minister Dame Angela Eagle said: 'We have immediately suspended this firm's sponsorship licence. 'Urgent investigations continue and if the allegations are true, they risk having their sponsor licence revoked and sponsored workers complicit in abuse could face their visas being cancelled.' The skilled worker visa scheme was introduced in December 2020 and in the first three years alone more than 931,000 visas were issued – far outpacing Home Office predictions of 360,000 for this period, according to the National Audit Office. Flyover International is regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority, but Mr Estibeiro is not a registered adviser. The firm specialises in international student recruitment. The firm is owned by another man who is understood to be investigating and said that Mr Estibeiro was not officially hired to work in the UK end of the business. Mr Estibeiro denied involvement in any 'illegal or unethical' activity and said he was 'solely involved in student recruitment'. He insisted he always told anyone who inquired about certificates of sponsorship for skilled worker visas that 'we do not deal with such matters'. The Immigration Advice Authority said: 'We recognise the seriousness of the issue and are working closely with the Home Office to determine the most appropriate course of action.' Dame Angela added: 'Since taking office there have been 40 per cent fewer visa applications, we have removed 24,000 people with no right to be here and arrests from illegal working raids are up 42 per cent.' Q&A How do UK companies hire overseas workers? Employers usually need a sponsor licence from the Home Office. This allows the firm to issue certificates of sponsorship for eligible overseas employees, which cost £525 per worker, to be paid to the Home Office. Employees use the certificates to obtain a UK skilled worker visa. Can firms or UK recruiters charge workers for sponsorship or jobs? No. Businesses are responsible for paying the sponsor licence fee and any associated administrative costs. The Home Office can revoke licences of businesses they find have recouped, or attempted to recoup, any part of the sponsor licence fee or associated administrative costs, by any means. It is also illegal for UK-based recruitment agencies to impose fees on individuals for the promise of securing employment opportunities. Is there a minimum salary for staff on skilled visas? Yes, though this varies depending on the role. For all routes, licensed businesses must ensure the role they are sponsoring the worker for complies with both the national minimum wage and the working time regulations. What are immigration legal advisers? Depending on their level, advisers can help with visa applications, obtaining leave to remain, nationality and citizenship and, at the highest level, represent clients at immigration tribunals. Advisers must be registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) which is tasked with ensuring they are competent and act in their clients' best interests. What rules do they have to follow? The OISC Code of Standards says immigration legal advisers 'must not knowingly or recklessly allow clients, the Commissioner, the Home Office, the courts and tribunals and/or third-party agencies to be misled', and 'not abuse any judicial and/or immigration process.' Migration fixer's brazen promise to undercover reporter posing as Indian student By Tom Kelly, Investigations Editor for The Daily Mail Tightening restrictions on skilled worker visas was a centrepiece of Sir Keir Starmer's much-vaunted crackdown on spiralling immigration. The Prime Minister has promised that new rules – demanding that applicants for the permits must be graduates – would help to 'lower net migration', provide a higher-calibre workforce and stop the UK becoming an 'island of strangers'. But a Mail investigation can reveal that managers of immigration advice firms are already using tricks that could render many of the planned changes pointless. During an extraordinary hour-long meeting, Joe Estibeiro, managing partner of the immigration adviser Flyover International, detailed to our undercover reporter how he makes a mockery of government rules despite his firm being officially 'approved by the Home Office'. Skilled worker visas were introduced in December 2020 to mitigate the impacts of Brexit on the labour market and supposedly attract high-quality employees to the UK. Businesses licensed by the Home Office can pay a £574 fee to the department to issue certificates of sponsorship for foreign workers seeking to come to Britain using the visas. Employers must ensure that immigration laws are properly upheld, including a minimum salary depending on the job. Bosses and employment agencies also cannot charge a fee to a work-seeker for finding them a job or pass on visa charges or other administrative costs to the migrant. But from the headquarters of the Leicester-based firm, which also has offices in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Anand in Gujarat and works with 350 agents across India, Mr Estibeiro told how he arranges sponsorship licences for crooked businesses and then recruits staff for them – for a five-figure fee. From the headquarters of the Leicester-based firm, which also has offices in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Anand in Gujarat and works with 350 agents across India, Mr Estibeiro (pictured) told how he arranges sponsorship licences for crooked businesses and then recruits staff for them – for a five-figure fee He told our reporter, who was posing as an Indian student wanting to stay in the UK after his study visa expires, that he could arrange a job for him shelf-stacking and running the till at convenience stores in either Peterborough or Northampton. The opportunity would cost the reporter £19,000, plus the annual health surcharge. There was also the chance to work in a role moving stock at a drinks warehouse in Yorkshire, but this was more expensive because the boss had got a 'bit greedy' after recently managing to hire some Pakistani staff, who he claimed had paid the warehouse boss £22,000 to secure similar roles, Mr Estibeiro explained. Most of the illegal fee goes to the employer, but Mr Estibeiro said he took 'a little bit of commission' of £1,500. 'So basically you pay me and then I pay the employer,' he said. 'We will handle everything. So that's all-inclusive. So including the visa – I'll do all the paperwork.' The initial £5,000 deposit to start the process could be paid by bank transfer, but not to his company otherwise the foreign worker might reveal he was charged for a job. 'We can't take it on Flyover. I'll give either my personal account [or] I'll give somebody else's, like one of my clients' personal accounts. 'See, there can't be a trail of it. Can't be a paper trail. 'That's why even when I am sponsoring someone, I will use somebody else to do it.' Further payments would need to be cash, he added. Mr Estibeiro told the reporter that for both jobs he would on paper receive an annual salary of £33,000, most of which he would have to repay to his new boss. 'Basically, because when we get a COS [certificate of sponsorship,] we have to show £33,000 per annum,' he said. Tax on this official salary would be deducted and paid to HMRC as PAYE and National Insurance, so it all appeared official. 'Everything is paid… he's gonna get a pension. He's going to get proper payslip.' After these deductions, this would mean the reporter would receive about £2,750 monthly paid into his account for the convenience store job, but he would have to hand all but £900 back. 'The owner will tell him that, OK, put it in this account, or, you know, withdraw cash and give it.' The worker would also receive accommodation – probably a shared room above the shop – and food from the store owners. In return he would have to work ten hours a day, six days a week in the shop. In real terms this meant he would almost certainly be earning under the minimum wage. But Mr Estibeiro said: 'Once you get your visa… then you're on the route to permanent residency.' Sponsored migrants were also allowed to bring spouses and partners to the UK, he said. 'Within a month, go to India, get married, bring her back over here and then she can apply [for sponsorship to work].' Mr Estibeiro said he charged £1,750 for arranging the sponsorship licence and recruiting staff for firms. His services included providing a 'good justification' to show the licence was required to ensure the application was approved. But he explained there were ways to trick the Home Office into falsely believing the company was unable to recruit staff for the required role from the UK. 'What I do with my client, one month before, two months before, we start advertising on Indeed and all those job sites. 'We'll get candidates for interview. So, the worst candidates, we will record a conversation. The good ones we'll say, let's not record it. 'So then, if the Home Office does an inquiry as to why, you say I interviewed seven candidates, and if they say we need a proof, you have the proof.' He said once the worker was in place with a visa there would be no further checks from the Home Office to make sure he really was a specialist. 'They want people to come over here, because what is there in UK apart from immigration? How does UK make their money? Immigration.' Despite it being called a skilled worker visa, he said no specialist skill was required to get a certificate of sponsorship. Chuckling, Mr Estibeiro described how when he had his hair cut at a barber shop he had arranged a sponsorship licence for it was a 'disaster', apparently because the staff were actually trainees. And he explained how he had hired an overseas worker with only a high school education by claiming she was a 'senior web developer'. They tricked the Home Office by telling the worker to enrol in a short web course costing around £200 in India so the worker knew what to say when interviewed by UK immigration officials. Laughing, he said the worker was 'not a web developer', had completed only high school education and hadn't obtained a degree. He said things were even easier for migrants already in Britain hoping to switch from expiring education visas to skilled worker visas. 'The good thing is, in UK right now, Home Office is not giving interview. So once you put an application, once you get it, that's it. They don't ask you for what… That's the employer's responsibility. The Home Office is just interested in the money you're getting.' He described how his phone rings 'non-stop' from 7am until midnight. The high volume of applicants meant sponsorship licences for skilled workers have become so popular in recent years that 'everybody' was opening businesses just to make money out of the scheme – including himself. He said he had a restaurant which he opened 'only for immigration purpose'. 'So, you know, we'll get a sponsor licence. 'We'll sponsor, get their money and then tell one of them that, OK, you take over the business, sell the business to him. 'In a year, if we can make like, £30,000, £40,000. Why not?' 'This is how everybody got into this business of sponsor licence. The business was very good in 2024. A lot of people made a lot of money.' He even told a second undercover reporter at the meeting – who was posing as the Indian student's UK-based cousin – that he could organise a sponsorship licence for his fitness business so he could also charge overseas workers £20,000 for visas and jobs. Flyover International is based in a large centre a short drive from Mr Estibeiro's £300,000 four- bedroom semi-detached home in a smart suburb on the outskirts of the city. As the reporters left, he pointed across the concourse to an office of an official partner of the Home Office's UK Visas and Immigration section, where applicants to stay in the UK provide their biometrics and complete visa applications. The Home Office has launched an urgent investigation and suspended Flyover International's sponsorship licence. In the last six months of 2024, the Home Office revoked and suspended the highest total of skilled worker sponsor licences since records began in 2012. An Immigration Advice Authority spokesman told the Mail: 'We recognise the seriousness of the issue and are working closely with the Home Office to determine the most appropriate course of action.' Flyover International is owned by another man who is understood to be taking the matter seriously and investigating and says that Mr Estibeiro was not officially hired to work the UK end of the business. Mr Estibeiro denied involvement in any 'illegal or unethical' activity and said he was 'solely involved in student recruitment'. He insisted he always told anyone who inquired about certificates of sponsorship for skilled worker visas that 'we do not deal with such matters'.
