The Londis on Aubyn Square has narrowly avoided having its licence revoked but will be shut down for two months after the council chose to punish its owner for “contradictory evidence” over hiring an illegal worker and failing to pay the £40,000 fine that resulted.
The Wandsworth licensing committee found [pdf] that shop owner Jasbir Singh Kapoor gave conflicting accounts about payments to the worker, claimed he never received official penalty notices that were sent to his accountant’s address, and only made his first payment toward the fine one week before facing the hearing.
The committee said in its decision that revoking the licence entirely was “very close to being proportionate” given the evidence presented.
What the committee found
Immigration officers raided the convenience store last October after receiving intelligence that Kapoor was employing illegal workers. They found one employee whose student visa had been cancelled in January 2024, months before he started working at the shop in June.
When questioned at the time, Kapoor told officers the worker was on an unpaid trial period of about a month, working 20 hours per week. The worker told officers something completely different – that he’d been working there for four months, doing 40 hours per week, and had been paid £400 in cash.
At the hearing two weeks ago, Kapoor changed his story again. He admitted paying the worker £400 in cash “whilst he was being trained” and then £1,000 transferred to his bank account. The committee noted this contradiction and said Kapoor “was not always transparent in the information that he provided.”
The unpaid fine
After the October 2024 raid, the Home Office issued a £40,000 civil penalty to Kapoor’s company, Jivi Kapoor Limited, in February 2025. The fine went completely unpaid for months and was eventually referred to a debt collection agency.
Kapoor claimed he never received the penalty notice because it was sent to his accountant’s address in Hounslow, where his company is registered. He said if he’d known about it, he would have paid the discounted early payment amount of £28,000 straight away.
The committee found this claim lacked credibility. They noted that Kapoor only made his first payment of £8,000 on September 30th – exactly one week before the hearing and after being notified of the licence review. The remaining balance of £32,000 is still owed.
How close it came to revocation
The Home Office Immigration Enforcement Team had requested the licence be revoked entirely, calling it a serious breach of the prevention of crime and disorder licensing objective.
Christopher Sharp from the team told the hearing that employers who conduct proper right-to-work checks help prevent illegal migration and exploitation. A simple online check would have revealed the worker’s visa had been cancelled and he had no right to work in the UK.
The committee seriously considered revocation. In their decision, they wrote:
“It was considered that the option to Revoke the Premises Licence was very close to being proportionate and appropriate on the basis of the evidence provided.”
But they chose suspension instead, saying it would “act as a deterrent, and acknowledge that the Premises Licence holder broke the law.” They noted this was the only proven immigration offence and that a year had passed without incident since the inspection.
What the owner said
Kapoor’s licensing agent, Surendra Panchal, told the committee his client made a mistake by not realizing he needed to use the Home Office’s online right-to-work checking system. He said Kapoor had checked the worker’s biometric residence permit card, which appeared valid until November 2026.
Panchal said Kapoor has run the shop since 2021 without any licensing breaches, that it’s a family-run business, and that losing the licence would have been “devastating” for the family. He asked for a short suspension instead of revocation.
The shop is located directly opposite a college where students regularly visit seeking part-time work of 20 hours per week, Panchal explained.
What happens next
The Londis must close for two months starting from when the decision [pdf] takes effect. The shop has 21 days to appeal the decision to magistrates court if they choose to.
Within seven days, Kapoor must conduct Home Office right-to-work checks on all current staff and send the results to both the Immigration Enforcement Team and Wandsworth’s licensing authority. He must also provide existing training records for all staff.
Going forward, staff training records must be sent to authorities every six months to prove compliance.
The committee decided to keep Kapoor as the designated premises supervisor, saying there was “some trust in the lessons learnt” but warning this would be reviewed if any further incidents occur.
