Scone berry farmer's migrant shame exposed

Aug 8 2008 by Jenny Wood, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

BERRY SHAME

A PERTHSHIRE farmer sits in his turreted mansion overlooking the shanty town he has created for hundreds of fruit pickers living in squalor in the shadow of his palatial property on the outskirts of Perth.

While David Leslie’s strawberries may impress supermarket bosses, his treatment of staff at Scones of Lethendy has shocked the authorities now looking into the operation on the outskirts of Scone.

Involved in the investigation are the UK Border Agency, the UK Human Trafficking Centre, Gangmasters Licensing Authority, Health and Safety Executive, Tayside Police, Tayside Fire and Rescue Service and Perth and Kinross Council.

The PA can exclusively reveal startling pictures of the slummy, seven-to-a-shed digs workers stay in at Scones of Lethendy, the shocking and indecent shower facilities they have to use and how much is creamed off their weekly pay packets in charges for the squalid conditions.

Yesterday a source, disgusted by what he has seen at the farm, told the PA: “Whilst Mr Leslie may not be exploiting humans in terms of the legislation – in that these people are not forced to stay there and live in a hole – he is exploiting them in a different way and taking advantage of a captive workforce.

“He has his big car and fancy house while his workers live in shocking conditions,” hit out the appalled official.

The agencies investigating Scones of Lethendy are also looking into allegations not all staff there are legally entitled to work in the UK.

When the PA visited the farm we spoke with migrant workers from Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Some were so miserable with the grim situation at the farm, they were even trying to get money sent from home to buy a ticket out of the desperate deprivation.

Workers eat and sleep in putrid smelling metal containers crammed full with beds. In the primitive conditions they hang washing from the rafters and males and females share the bleak metal boxes they call home while they are at Lethendy.

But the most alarming conditions were found in the washing block workers pointed us towards.

Eight showers, which only ran cold water, line the communal room, piping lagged with slimy green material used in the fields.

The only chance of privacy the workers get is to shower during gender-specific times. Female workers can only shower between 6pm and 8pm.

Yet staff have to pay a significant chunk of their earnings for their sub-standard stay at Lethendy.

We saw payslips which showed workers typically had just over £30 taken off their weekly wages for accommodation.

Most units sleep seven, so David Leslie Fruits could net around £840 per month for each container. The cabins do not have toilets or running water and workers must walk across a muddy, unlit field to get to the most basic of facilities.

Some workers earned a pittance, but still had £2 taken off their pay each week to pay for a bus which runs between the farm and Perth, regardless of if they use the transport.

For the farmer's response click here