MORE than 90 per cent of hand automobile washes are more likely to be employing staff illegally, without proper pay, records, PPE, or first-aid protection, latest research suggests.
Data on the prevalence and site of those businesses were analysed by researchers at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the Clewer Initiative’s Safe Car Wash App (News, 1 June 2018). The church-backed charity works to detect modern slavery and to support victims (News, 20 October 2017).
Location data from the app — through which users can report signs of forced labour in automobile washes — was used to tell the research. This was collated with similar statistics from NTU’s Work Information and Place Research Centre (WIP). The findings were published this week.
Researchers found that, while there was an increased likelihood of finding exploitative hand automobile washes in areas that had a vehicle-repairs garage (2.2 times more likely than without) or petrol station (1.75 times), “the correlation between the situation of a hand automobile wash and the presence of slavery just isn’t strong enough to eliminate any specific business and the danger is all over the place.”
Dr James Hunter, the centre co-director and researcher on the WIP, explains: “This is more worrying than if there had been a selected pattern. No community, consumer, or police force can take their eye off the ball.”
Researchers mapped greater than 2000 hand automobile washes in England virtually. Most of those were concentrated in urban areas. It is estimated that there are about 5000 in operation within the UK. Almost 9000 reports were received through the Safe Car Wash App; the very best proportion were from the south-east of England.
Collating these figures with an earlier NTU study of hand automobile washes in Leicester and Nottingham (which found wage theft to be endemic in any respect sites), and other studies and interviews funded by the Home Office Modern Slavery Prevention Fund, NTU estimates that 90 per cent of hand automobile washes are operating illegally.
Rich Pickford, from NTU, said: “When the Responsible Car Wash Scheme attempted to introduce a code of practice, hardly any hand automobile washes met all the standards. The entire sector is endemically illegal and non-compliant.
“Our work through the Home Office’s Modern Slavery Prevention Fund also highlighted the dimensions of non-compliance and illegal practice across three local authorities within the UK.”
The director of the Clewer Initiative, Caroline Virgo, said: “Working with WIP researchers has confirmed our suspicions about modern slavery, and provides additional weight to our belief that we must tackle modern slavery across the UK.”
She continued: “Statutory organisations are already stretched, and yet our data proves no community is immune from modern slavery. The risk is all over the place. We need many more consumers to make use of the Safe Car Wash App and submit their reports, so we are able to provide more detailed insight to the police and GLAA.
To mark the anniversary, the Initiative is urging more people to download the app and submit reports every time they visit a hand automobile wash: “We are reliant on most of the people to be our eyes and ears and drive out exploitation across the sector.”
The app has been downloaded 40,000 times since 2018. Reports that rating above the brink of concern for contemporary slavery and exploitation are referred to the Modern Slavery Helpline, and passed on to the police where appropriate.
