Berry bus leaves for Bulgaria

Aug 19 2008 by Jenny Wood, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

BRASSED-OFF berry pickers have been deserting a local fruit farm in their droves after the PA lifted the lid on shocking living conditions at Scones Lethendy.

Scores of staff left the Perthshire farm on Sunday during an early morning exodus from the roadside next to the farm’s Strawberry Shop.

Just after sunrise, around 80 workers gathered at the roadside with their belongings to wait for the two coaches laid on to take them on the first leg of an arduous three-day trip from Scone to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia.

But the workers –- most looking happy to be leaving Perthshire behind – first faced a journey south to London where they then changed coaches on Sunday evening for a two-day haul across Europe to the Balkans. They are expected to arrive in Bulgaria today.

Such was the scramble to get the staff off site, the coaches were unable to take all the workers’ luggage and a van was hurriedly mustered from the Scones Lethendy farm.

Keen to appease authorities and organisations investigating his controversial operation, under-fire farmer David Leslie arranged the transport from his Perthshire farm to Eastern Europe. Although it is understood the migrant workers were expected to foot the bill themselves for their premature trek home.

Since the PA exposed Mr Leslie’s treatment of foreign fruit pickers, workers have been turning their back on the farmer almost every day and leaving the Scone site.

Adding to Mr Leslie’s woes was a surprise visit last week from the immigration branch of the Home Office, the UK Border Agency.

With their probe still in progress, a spokeswoman for the UK Border Agency told the PA: “We cannot comment on matters of ongoing investigations.”

The PA exposed how Mr Leslie lived comfortably in his turreted mansion overlooking the shanty town he had created for staff.

Workers were crammed into metal accommodation containers with no toilets or running water, while staff showed us to their grubby shower block where the only chance of any privacy was to wash during gender specific times.

To top it all off, employees – some already earning a pittance – had money creamed off their wages in charges for the squalid conditions.

While fruit pickers spoke to us about their unhappiness at the shocking state and cost of their digs, PA readers have been in touch branding Leslie’s treatment of workers “disgraceful” and claiming he could damage area’s reputation.

A boss at another fruit farm also contacted us “incensed” that Leslie had claimed he was operating to industry standards: “That just tars us with the same brush,” she hit out.

And keen to distance themselves from the dark side of the local soft fruit industry, a Fair City greengrocer has even put a sign up in his shop window to tell shoppers the berries he sells are not David Leslie’s.

The Scones Lethendy operation is currently under investigation by several organisations.

Involved in the probe are the UK Border Agency, Gangmasters Licensing Authority, Tayside Police, Tayside Fire and Rescue Service, Perth and Kinross Council and UK Human Trafficking Centre. The supermarkets receiving Leslie’s soft fruit, Tesco and Sainsbury, also rushed to the farm to take a close look at their supplier.

The Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) confirmed: “We are working with a number of enforcement bodies to investigate allegations of mistreatment relating to the working and housing conditions of 251 Bulgarians who had been sent to work at David Leslie’s farm.

“We are also aware of the agency who supplied these workers.

“Our inquiries are ongoing and we can not comment further at this time,” the GLA added.