Motorists enjoying cheap £5 hand car washes may be unwittingly fuelling modern slavery, money laundering and tax evasion, experts warned today – as the number of sites edged past 5,500.
Bargain prices at local car washes makes them popular with drivers, but campaigners warn these are often only possible due to a reliance on low-paid workers who may have been trafficked from overseas.
They also warn the unregulated nature of the industry makes it particularly suitable for organised criminals looking to legitimise their ill-gotten gains, with many sites controlled by brutal drugs gangs.
Earlier this year, police busted an Eastern European crime syndicate who smuggled 12 migrants into the UK with the promise of a better life before stealing wages they earned at car washes and other ‘grey economy’ businesses.
One migrant was forced to live in an unheated garage without a roof before being put to work cleaning vehicles for no money, with his captors – who included 47-year-old Czech man Zdenek Drevenak – exploiting his ‘desperation’ not to be deported.
Another case saw a couple force more than 40 Slovakian ‘slaves’ to carry out nearly £1million worth of work for free at their car wash in Southmead, Bristol. Maros Tancos and Joanna Gomulska, both 46, were jailed for a total of 25 years.
Adam Hewitt, from anti-trafficking charity Hope for Justice, described car washes as ‘among the highest risk types of business for modern slavery’.
‘Many of the survivors we are helping right now were exploited at a car wash at some point because they are often low-wage, cash-in-hand operations where most staff do not need to speak to the public,’ he told .
‘This means they can be controlled more effectively. We have seen cases of victims being forced to sleep on-site, working extremely long hours with few if any breaks, and getting paid nothing or maybe just a small handout, or even just some cigarettes or alcohol.
Adam Hewitt, from anti-trafficking charity Hope for Justice, advised drivers to look out for suspicious signs, such as groups of workers all being picked up and dropped off together, especially at unusual times.
He continued: ‘Looks for lights on at businesses at night – could someone be living there?
‘Look out for workers with bruises or who look dishevelled or anxious, or who don’t seem to be allowed to talk for themselves. If it’s so cheap it seems too good to be true, ask yourself why – maybe the staff aren’t actually being paid properly.’
‘This is because they are under the control of a trafficker, who keeps them compliant using threats against them or their family, debt obligations, psychological manipulation or other forms of control.
‘That means that a victim will often not think about ”escape” in the way you might expect – they do not feel this is an option for them and sometimes they may even say they are grateful to their trafficker, thinking that something better will come along soon.’
Mr Hewitt advised drivers to look out for suspicious signs, such as groups of workers all being picked up and dropped off together, especially at unusual times.
He continued: ‘Looks for lights on at businesses at night – could someone be living there?
‘Look out for workers with bruises or who look dishevelled or anxious, or who don’t seem to be allowed to talk for themselves. If it’s so cheap it seems too good to be true, ask yourself why – maybe the staff aren’t actually being paid properly.’
Researchers at Nottingham Trent University estimate there are now about 5,500 hand car washes in the UK, accounting for nearly 70 per cent of car washes overall.
They said ‘wage theft, failure to pay business rates, lack of environmental protections and many other unlawful practices’ remain ‘endemic’ in the sector despite their efforts.
‘At this point in time, we would not recommend any of you take your car to be washed at a hand car wash in your neighbourhood,’ Rich Pickford, Professor Ian Clark and Dr James Hunter wrote in a research paper.
‘Businesses often don’t hold insurance to move your cars, hold a licence to use water commercially which means acids, soap and other all the dirt and grime from your car goes untreated, or pay anything near the minimum wage we would expect all workers to be paid across the UK’, they added, asking that after the election, the new government commits to tackling the issue once and for all.
The Car Wash Association (CWA) is also asking for a new mandatory licensing scheme to be introduced by the next government.
Gordon Balmer, Executive Director of the CWA, said: ‘Non-compliant hand car washes, that vastly outnumber legally operated sites, are blatantly disregarding employment laws, with minimal enforcement from the relevant authorities.
‘When employment laws are ignored, people suffer. These hand car washes, many of which only accept payment in cash, are often a hotbed of modern slavery and other illegal activities, such as money laundering and tax evasion.
‘The continued lack of action on this issue empowers these criminals and endangers lives.’
He added: ‘A National Licensing Scheme must be part of any prospective Government’s strategy to address these employment law violations.
‘Inaction allows criminals to operate with impunity.’
Today one car wash owner hit back against the suggestion that his industry was a haven for criminals.
Adnan, 44, who owns Charlton Car Wash in south east London, and another carwash in Kent, said: ‘The government is looking at us all the time.
‘We have the Home Office every couple of months and the minimum wage people every six months, so we have to keep records for five to six years now.’
The entrepreneur charges an average of £15 to £20 for cars with discounts for NHS workers. Vans are £25.
When asked if he has faced issues from other carwashes undercutting his prices, he said: ‘Outside London maybe sometimes you can find these cheaper carwashes, and how can they afford it?
‘When you add the cost, the rent, the water, staff wages have gone up.
‘Our staff are happy to stay here, we are not forcing them. After Brexit, we find it hard to find people, the local people they don’t want to work here.’
‘We pay the London Living Wage of £12 an hour, and we got no one.’
At Drive and Shine hand car wash in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, 10 cars were being pressure washed, polished and valeted on Sunday morning.
The car wash employs up to ten workers, from Bulgaria, Romania, Kurdistan along with some locals.
Manager Aras Karam said Drive and Shine was a legitimate business which ran checks on its employees to ensure they were in the UK legally.
He said the company followed Health and Safety regulations and paid its workers the minimum wage ‘sometimes more’.
Mr Karam, a Kurd, said he was aware that car wash companies had the reputation of being fronts for organised crime.
He said: ‘That isn’t happening here. There are so many car washes in the country now, some will be operating illegally, I know that.
‘But this is a legitimate business, we have been here for many years. I’m not saying it doesn’t go on, but it depends on the place and who is running it.’
Regular customer, furniture restorer Sue Williams, 57, said: ‘They work hard and do a good job, I’ve been coming here for years.
‘I’d think again if the place was being used for money laundering and was staffed by slave labour.
‘But I put my trust in the police and immigration authorities to make sure it’s a properly run business.’
Egyptian Reda Abdelmorty, 39, had been working at car washes in South Wales for 10 years but left his last job because he was not getting holidays pay.
He now manages the recently opened M&R Valeting in Merthyr Tydfil along with his brother and his 18-year-old son.
Mr Abdelmorty said: ‘I’m a father-of-three, I work hard for my family. I’ve heard that car washes are involved in organised crime but that’s not my experience.
‘I left the last place after nine years, run by a Palestinian with a British passport, because he wasn’t giving me holiday pay when I go back to Egypt every year.
‘This new place is owned by a local businessman and I’m doing my best to get it established.’
Workers in the carwash come from all over the world, with many from Eastern Europe, but also India and Nepal.
The business has been operating since the 1990s, and Adnan, who moved to the UK in 1997 from Kosovo after the war, has been involved on and off for around eight years, taking ownership again last year after a period under different management.
The entrepreneur prides himself on how well he follows new government legislations, even employing someone full time to ensure the business is complying with all the rules.
Adnan also wants more carwash owners to follow the rules, he said: ‘People should run their businesses the way they should be. Everywhere there are bad people and good people.’
There have been many recent cases of criminals using car washes to rip off workers or as fronts for money laundering.
In February, British couple Arti Dhir, 59, and Kaval Raijada, 35, were both sentenced to 33 years in prison after they were found to have smuggled cocaine to between 2019 and 2021 before laundering it through a car wash in London.
The pair moved £3million in boxes and suitcases around different storage sites in the capital and hid seven gold-plated bullion bars in a punchbag at their London flat.
They were also accused of the murder of an 11-year-old boy in India.
Paul Law, 36, from Manchester, used his car valeting firm as a front to launder drugs money whilst arranging for hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of high purity cocaine to be imported into the UK concealed in computer hard drives.
The father-of-one was caught in 2016 after police raided his company P&D Auto Clean in Wigan and other properties when police raids and seized huge hauls of cash, drugs and equipment associated with cocaine production.
At Liverpool Crown Court, Law, from Wigan, was jailed for 14 years after he was convicted of conspiracy to supply cocaine and cocaine importation following a two month trial.
Five other men and three women were found guilty of various drugs offences and jailed for a total of 63 years.
As far back as 2018, MPs were already warning that hand car washes were centres of ‘modern slavery’ and should be licensed.
A report by the Commons environmental audit committee said thousands of car washes – charging as little as £5 per vehicle – have sprung up on unused land around the country in the past 15 years.
Some are linked to trafficking for cheap labour, said the report, adding: ‘This is modern slavery in plain sight on Britain’s streets.’ One study found that of 450 people trafficked into the UK, 40 were working in hand car washes.
Committee chairman Mary Creagh said at the time: ‘Hand car washes hide the widespread exploitation of workers through illegally low pay, poor working conditions and, in some cases, forced labour. The Government must target the sector and prosecute exploitative employers.’
Natasha Mitra, Head of Helpline Services at Unseen told : ‘The exploitation of car wash workers remains a serious issue in the UK, despite a drop in reported cases during 2023.
‘This decrease doesn’t necessarily indicate a reduction in cases, but could stem from legislative changes like the 2022 Nationality and Borders Act and 2023 Illegal Migration Act hindering victim disclosures, particularly those with irregular immigration status, alongside a recent media focus on care sector exploitation.
‘The public plays a vital role in identifying and reporting exploitation, and consumers should look for signs like workers appearing fearful, exhausted, or living onsite.’
It is not only car washes that have come under a cloud of suspicion.
Earlier this year, barber shops were accused of being possible fronts for human trafficking across the Channel, drugs and slave labour.
The number of barbers operating in the UK has ballooned in recent years, fuelled by a surge in male grooming.
Detective Superintendent Charlotte Tucker of Wiltshire Police, claimed establishments in London offering ‘really cheap’ £10 haircuts could be a ‘red flag’, potentially highlighting it was being run by a criminal gang.
Meanwhile, in April, a Met Police detective warned of ‘large’ numbers of trafficked women being brought to work in nail bars.
To get help or report modern slavery, call the independent Modern Slavery Helpline on 08000 121 700 or visit www.modernslaveryhelpline.org.