16 victims were coerced by a gang to work at the fast-food joint or the factory that supplied Waitrose, Tesco, Asda, Co-op, M&S, and Sainsbury’s.
The victims from the Czech Republic were exploited for more than four years, and classic indicators of slavery were overlooked, such as depositing four men’s earnings into one bank account.
McDonald’s UK declared that its processes for identifying “potential risks” had been enhanced, and the British Retail Consortium promised that its members will take note of the matter.
Six Czech family members who operated a human trafficking network have been found guilty.
A large portion of the case could not be covered due to reporting constraints, but England is now able to expose the entire scope of the gang’s atrocities as well as the opportunities that were lost to put an end to them.
The Caxton, Cambridgeshire, McDonald’s forced nine people to work there. Nine were employed by the pitta bread company, which produced supermarket own-brand goods and had plants in Tottenham, north London, and Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. Two of the victims were employed by both the factory and McDonald’s, for a total of 16 casualties at both locations.
