Workers 'exploited by developer'

Malcolm Prior
Producer, Inside Out West

Until January this year, Mr Bond was housing workers at Alfoxton Park

A Somerset property developer is facing allegations he exploited his Polish workforce, following a BBC investigation.

Inside Out West uncovered evidence that Grahame Bond paid some employees less than the national minimum wage.

The programme also found the boss of Dunster Properties was using run-down buildings to house workers.

Mr Bond, 45, of Halswell House, Goathurst, refused to comment on the allegations.

Until January this year, Mr Bond was housing workers in basic accommodation at Alfoxton Park, a run-down former hotel in the Quantock Hills.

'Mould everywhere'

He was using the building as a house in multiple occupation (HMO) without permission.

Monika Stennett, of Equality South West, said: "I couldn't believe that people can live in such a condition.

"There was mould everywhere. There was rust, cracks in the walls, wires hanging out insecurely. It was very, very poor, very basic."

West Somerset Council has since issued an enforcement notice, ordering Mr Bond to stop housing people at Alfoxton Park.

The programme also found that the amount Mr Bond took as rent from some workers' pay-packets meant they were being paid less than the national minimum wage.

Some workers were tied into having Mr Bond as their landlord by their employment contracts.

And one worker was owed more than £4,000 in unpaid wages when he was dismissed in January.

Dave Richards, an independent employment advisor who has taken on the workers' case, said: "I'm embarrassed that this sort of thing can go on in the UK in the 21st Century."

Dunster Properties also has a number of county court judgements against it, which it has failed to pay.

Nobody from Dunster Properties would comment on the allegations.

The full story features on Inside Out West on BBC One West at 1930 GMT on Monday.