A BUILDING supplies firm has brought in security guards and a built a perimeter wall to stop desperate foreign jobseekers hassling its customers.
The largely Polish migrant workers, who are often in Britain legally but have been hit hard by the recession, have been offering to work on the black market for as little as £25 a day, it is claimed.
Builders are approaching shoppers in the Wickes store car park in Seven Sisters Road, Tottenham, offering to undercut their rivals.
Anick De-Col, of the Magical Building Company, Willoughby Lane, Tottenham, said she is always asked if she has any work when she goes to Wickes by people undercutting the going rate.
She said: “We don’t use Wickes that often but I drive past every day and there are always a lot of people there.” Colum Meade, owner of Meade and Co, in Queen Street, Tottenham, said he employed one “very good”
Polish builder who gets hassled himself.
He said the problem was nothing new but that many people found the touts intimidating.
A Wickes spokesman said the company has built a perimeter wall and introduced extra security to keep the touts away from its customers.
He said: “We are aware of the ongoing issues near our Tottenham store and have for some considerable time been working with the local authorities to help alleviate the problem and discourage loitering.
“We remain committed to doing whatever we can to help and will continue to monitor the situation in consultation with the local community police.”
The battle to control antisocial behaviour in the car park has been going on for more than a year. Police have introduced dispersal orders repeatedly to get rid of the builders after neighbours complained of people loitering, touting for illegal work, drinking, dropping litter and behaving aggressively.
Some workers were so impoverished they took to living in slum conditions underneath the nearby railway arches.
Last March 30 Polish men and women were found sleeping rough without toilet facilities for nearly a month before they were evicted.
More than 200 empty bottles of budget cider and used syringes were also found.
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