McDonald's and supermarkets fail to recognize slavery

Victims of modern slavery were forced to work at a branch of McDonald's and a factory supplying bread products to major supermarkets was missed for years, the BBC has found.

A gang forced 16 people to work in fast-food restaurants or factories – which supplied Asda, the Co-op, M&S, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose.

Well-established signs of slavery, including the payment of four people's wages into one bank account, were missed during the Czech Republic's exploitation of victims for more than four years.

McDonald's UK said it had improved measures to identify “potential risks”, while the British Retail Consortium said its members would learn from the case.

Six members of a family-run human trafficking network from the Czech Republic have been convicted in two criminal trials, which were delayed by the Covid pandemic.

Reporting restrictions have prevented much coverage of the case, but BBC England can now reveal the full extent of the gang's crimes – and the missed opportunity to stop them.

Nine victims were forced to work at a McDonald's branch in Caxton, Cambridgeshire. Nine worked for the Pitta bread company, with factories in Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire and Tottenham in north London, which makes the supermarket's own-brand products. There were a total of 16 victims across both sites, as two worked at McDonald's and the factory.

The victims—all of whom were vulnerable, mostly experienced homelessness or addiction—earned at least the legal minimum wage, but nearly all of their wages were stolen by the gang.

As they lived on a few pounds a day in cramped accommodation – including a leaky shed and a heated caravan – police discovered their work was financing luxury cars, gold jewelery and a property gang in the Czech Republic.

On several occasions, victims ran away and ran away from home only to be found and trafficked back to the UK.

The exploitation ended in October 2019, after the victims contacted police in the Czech Republic, who then informed their British counterparts.

But warning signs have been missed for at least four years, the BBC has discovered after reviewing legal documents from the gang's trials and interviewing three victims.

Undetected red flags include:

• Wages of the victims were paid into bank accounts in the names of others. At McDonald's, at least four victims' wages – totaling £215,000 – were being paid into an account controlled by the gang.

• Victims were unable to speak English, and job applications were completed by a gang member, who was even able to sit in on job interviews as a translator.

• The victims worked extreme hours at McDonald's – from 70 to 100 a week. One victim worked 30-hour shifts. The United Nations International Labor Organization says excessive overtime is an indicator of forced labor

• Multiple employees had the same registered address. The nine victims lived in the same terraced house in Enfield, north London, while working at the bakery

“It really worries me that so many red flags were missed, and perhaps companies didn't do enough to protect vulnerable workers,” said Dame Sarah Thornton, the former independent anti-slavery commissioner, who reviewed the BBC's findings.

Det Sergeant Chris Acourt, who led the Cambridgeshire Police investigation, said a “massive opportunity” to detect slavery and alert authorities early had been missed.

“Ultimately, if we were made aware we could have put an end to that exploitation much earlier,” he said.

Like many victims, Pavel – who has waived his legal right to remain anonymous – was homeless in the Czech Republic when he was approached by the gang in 2016.

He says he was lured with false promises of a well-paid job in the UK, where he could work legally at the time.

But the reality of what he experienced left a lasting scar, he said.

“You can't undo the damage to my mental health, it will always be with me.”

Despite working 70-hour weeks at a McDonald's branch, he was paid just a few pounds a day by his exploiters, he said.

The gang – led by brothers Ernest and Zdenek Drevenak – confiscated the passports of all their victims and controlled them through fear and violence, police found.

“We were scared,” Pavel said. “If we run away and go home, [Ernest Drevenak] We have many friends in town, half the town was his partner.”

According to Mets Debt Inspector Melanie Lillywhite, the gang “treated their victims like herds” feeding them enough to “keep them going”.

He said victims were controlled by “invisible handcuffs” – monitored by CCTV, prevented from using phones or the internet and unable to speak English.

“They were really cut off from the outside world,” he said.

Although the gang was found guilty in court, Pavel believes McDonald's also shares some responsibility.

“I feel partially exploited by McDonald's because they haven't acted,” he said.

“I thought if I worked for McDonald's, they'd be a little more careful, they'd notice it.”

Two former colleagues told the BBC that it was easy to see the extreme hours the men worked – and the effect it had on them.

Like most McDonald's, the Caxton outlet – on the A428 – is a franchise, meaning an independent business pays the fast-food giant to be allowed to run the restaurant.

While the victims worked there between 2015 and 2019, it was operated by two different franchise-holders. We contacted both, but they did not respond.

McDonald's UK declined our offer of an interview, but provided a statement on behalf of the corporation and its franchisees.

It said the current franchisee – Ahmet Mustafa – was “exposed to the full depth of these horrific, complex and sophisticated crimes” during his cooperation with police and prosecution.

The company said it cared “deeply” about all workers and pledged that – working with franchisees – it would “play our part alongside the government, NGOs”. [Non-governmental organisations] and wider society to help address the evils of modern slavery”.

It also said it commissioned an independent review in October 2023 and “has taken steps to improve its ability to identify and prevent potential risks, such as: reviewing shared bank accounts, excessive working hours, and the use of interpreters in interviews”.

The bakery company – Specialty Flatbread Ltd – ceased trading and went into administration in 2022.

Between 2012 and 2019, none of the supermarkets detected slavery when victims worked in factories.

Dame Sarah said she expected retailers to do “very thorough due diligence”, adding that they generally “care a lot about their own brand products because it's their reputation that's on the line”.

Sainsbury's said it stopped using the company as an own-brand supplier in 2016.

Others stopped briefly in 2019 after police rescued the victims.

Asda told the BBC it was “disappointed that a historic case has been found in our supply chain”, adding that it would “review every case identified and act on education”.

It said it visited three sites, but focused only on food safety and stopped using the factory in 2020.

Tesco said the inspections – supported by information from anti-slavery charity Invisible – “revealed working practices” and the company “ceased all orders from the supplier” in 2020.

Waitrose said it was withdrawn in 2021 after its audits “raised concerns about factory standards and working conditions”.

The Co-op said it had carried out a “number” of unannounced visits, including interviews with staff, but found no sign of modern slavery, adding that the organization “actively works to tackle the problem both in the UK and abroad”.

M&S said it suspended and delisted the company in 2020 “after becoming aware of potential breaches of ethical labor standards via the Modern Slavery Helpline”.

The British Retail Consortium said worker welfare was “fundamental” for retailers, who acted quickly when concerns were raised.

“However, it is important that the retail industry learns from such incidents to continuously strengthen due diligence,” it said.

Andrew Charalambous, director of Specialty Flatbreads, did not respond to a written request for comment, but said in a phone call from the BBC that he supported the police and prosecution, adding that the company had been “thoroughly audited by top law firms” and that “everything we did was legal”.

He added: “From our point of view we didn't break the law in any way, saying that, yes, maybe you're right that maybe there were certain symptoms or things like that, but that would have been for HR. Departments who are on the front line to deal with it. was doing.”

The Modern Slavery Act requires larger companies – including McDonald's and supermarkets – but not factories – to publish annual statements outlining what they will do to tackle the problem.

Former prime minister Baroness Theresa May, who introduced the law as home secretary in 2015, admitted the law failed to protect victims in these cases, and believed it needed to be “beefed up”.

The former prime minister – who now leads the Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking – said the case was “frankly shocking” and showed “big companies are not looking at their supply chains properly”.

He said the World Commission is reviewing what new legislation is needed to “ensure action is taken by companies”.

In response to the case, the government said it would “determine the next steps on the issue of modern slavery in due course”.

It said it was “committed to tackling all forms of modern slavery” and would “pursue gangs and employers with every lever at our disposal and ensure victims are given the support they need”.

Additional reporting by Mary O'Reilly and Maria Zevstafzeva

Details of organizations providing support for victims of modern slavery are available here bbc.co.uk/actionline