Channel migrants are working as fast-food delivery riders within hours of arriving in the UK, according to an investigation by The Sun newspaper.
The newspaper said Deliveroo and Just Eat delivery accounts were being offered to migrants “within 10 minutes of asking” through social media groups.
The Sun said its investigators and undercover reporters had found that migrants staying in asylum hotels across the country were joining dozens of social media groups dedicated to offering food delivery accounts for rent.
According to the newspaper’s investigation, migrants were paying as little as £40 a week for login details.
Migrants worked 15-hour shifts using their hotels as a base for their bikes, bags and uniforms and could make hundreds of pounds a week with guarantees from account dealers that they would not be caught.
The Sun said an undercover reporter posing as a small-boat arrival from Afghanistan was “quickly flooded with offers from all over the country”.
It published photographs alongside the story that it said were of men leaving migrant hotels wearing branded delivery bags on their backs.
On Tuesday, shadow home secretary Chris Philp posted a message on X saying he made an unannounced visit to an asylum hotel last Friday and found “clear evidence” of illegal working for Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats.
In a letter to all three firms, Mr Philp wrote: “These illegal immigrants are not allowed to work as delivery drivers while their asylum claim is pending, but when I looked in the bike store in the hotel, I saw delivery bags for Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats on the bikes.”
He continued: “Please can you commit to removing any driver … as a courier who does not have the right to work in the UK, including at this hotel site and elsewhere. I would be grateful if you could set out what further specific steps you will take (above what you currently do, which is evidently not working) in relation to this site and more generally to prevent illegal working.”
He added: “This is important, as the ability to work illegally is a pull factor for illegal immigration and by allowing this to happen on your platform you are fuelling the illegal immigration crisis.”
The Home Office, Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats have been approached for comment.
