The Association estimates that the Treasury may be missing out on at least £200 million a year because many set-ups hire unregistered foreign workers while failing to pay taxes, National Insurance or business rates.
Association chairman Brian Madderson said: ‘Over the last 10 years, this has almost killed off the mechanical rollover car wash.' - Garage owners said that the number of car-washing machines has more than halved in the past 15 years.
In a report submitted to the government’s Valuation Office Agency (VOA), the industry body said that hand car washing now employs up to 30,000 people and ‘provides a haven for illegal and unregistered foreign workers’.
‘About 70 per cent of all retail washes are now done by hand and the great majority of these people are completely unregulated.'
It said that the sharp increase in hand car washes was linked to a rapid rise in immigration from eastern Europe in the mid-2000s.
‘In the absence of available skilled work, many migrant workers have taken semi-skilled work including roles that are considered unattractive to the local population'
‘In the absence of available skilled work, many migrant workers have taken semi-skilled work including roles that are considered unattractive to the local population'
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