A barber shop in West Cumbria has been fined for having illegal workers.

Gems Barber Limited, on Curzon Street in Maryport, was fined £30,000 by the government as an illegal working civil penalty, from July 1 to September 30, 2023.

The government can jail individuals for five years and issue an unlimited fine if they are found guilty of employing someone who they knew or had reasonable cause to believe did not have the right to work in the UK.

This includes if they had any reason to believe that they did not have permission to enter or remain in the UK, this permission expired, they were not allowed to do certain types of work or, their papers were incorrect or false.

Gems Barber Limited is one of a number of businesses across the UK that were fined.

Ugur Cakmak, who founded the company several years ago and is known the people as 'Gem', said he had sold the business - which is still listed on Companies House as Gems Barber Limited - four years ago, and this fine has nothing to do with him.