A fish and chip shop owner has been given a "devastating" £40,000 fine by the Home Office after a hiring a man who allegedly forged his identity.

In March, Home Office immigration officers raided Big Fry Fish and Chips in Egham, Surrey, taking away one man who was employed by the shop and leaving staff "terrified".

Officers took away the man as he allegedly did not have the right to work in the UK.

When he was hired in early 2023, the man provided owner Mark Sullivan a national insurance number, proof of student loan payments and housing benefit receipts from Runnymede Borough Council.

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The owner has described the fine as 'devastating'

The chippy did not see a copy of the man's passport, which Sullivan said was a "clerical error".

Sullivan said: "It wasn't done deliberately, we owned up when we found out. We told them what happened, but we were given no right to defend ourselves."

The Home Office told the chip shop owner that "national insurance numbers, student loan payments and housing benefit receipts are not proof of an individual's identity or right to work in the UK".

Sullivan was later presented with a £40,000 fine, which would be reduced by 30 per cent if he paid it within three weeks.

The owner could object to the decision but was advised against this by a lawyer as a rejection could double the fine.

Sullivan explained: "The fine that we had is devastating. We're just a small business. I've employed people all my life. I've never employed anybody working illegally deliberately."

The small business was given a £5,000 discount for being cooperative, but could have received a further £5,000 discount if the chippy had reported suspicions about the man.

Sullivan said: "He had a bank account, he was already working when he came to work for us, he'd had a university education, and we were paying back the loan for him. Where were the red flags for us? [He was] extremely pleasant and polite."

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The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said there was widespread worry among small business owners about failing to meet complex Home Office rules, which could lead to potentially "fatal" fines for companies.

Craig Beaumont, the executive director of the FSB, said: "Small employers take their responsibilities seriously when it comes to necessary documentation checks, but ultimately, they are not immigration officers.

"They need a system which treats genuine mistakes proportionately rather than punishing them with crushing fines large enough potentially to threaten the existence of their business.

"In this case, a fish and chip shop engaged with the Home Office in good faith to resolve an issue when a one-off honest mistake came to light, only to be handed a massive fine with no right to appeal or chance to explain -and a ticking clock to force payment before the cost dramatically increases."

Beaumont added: "It's disappointing to see a genuine effort to do the right thing met with such an inflexible response."