A Cardiff gangmaster business has been convicted for operating as a gangmaster without a licence at Abertillery Magistrates Court, Gwent.

Recruitment Solutions Wales, operating from 2 Alexandra Gate, Ffordd Pengam, Rover Way, Cardiff, was sentenced to pay a fine and costs of £1,615.

The gangmaster business, which had previously held a Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) licence, failed to have its licence renewed in October 2008. The company was found to be still supplying workers to a bakery in Bridgend in Mid Glamorgan last July.

An unnamed company was cautioned for using unlicensed labour, but the decision was taken not to prosecute them.

GLA chairman Paul Whitehouse says: “Recruitment Solutions Wales knew they should have been licensed but chose to break the law. Anyone who does this knows there could be consequences and we are increasingly finding and prosecuting those who operate without a licence.

“While it may have not been in the public interest to prosecute the business that were supplied with workers this time, we have already had one conviction of a labour user for using unlicensed labour and would not hesitate to do so again in the right circumstances.”