A SUPERMARKET which continues to employ illegal immigrants could lose its licence.

Best Foods on Oxford Road will be examined by Reading Borough Council at a hearing on December 12 after two illegal workers were found since January 2015.

The council's licensing team carried out a visit in September and found that staff had been selling alcohol without authorisation and the store was forced to remove all alcohol from display.

Thames Valley Police (TVP) officers were left stunned in July when they visited Best Foods and 'uncooperative staff' refused to tell them who was in charge.

Richard French, a member of the council's Licensing team, said: "The way this premises is being run is totally unacceptable and the conduct of the premises holder is ensuring that staff are trained and that licence conditions are adhered to is poor to non-existent.

"It is inconceivable that any responsible licence holder should act in this manner.

"It could not be demonstrated that any member of staff had been authorised to sell alcohol. The staff were asked to remove the alcohol from display to avoid committing offences.

"It should be noted that after the conclusion of this extremely concerning inspection in September that officers left business cards with the instruction that the DPS make contact immediately.

"To date, no contact has been received - therefore raising serious concerns over the suitability of the DPS to manage the premises, maintain suitable control over it or his attitude toward his responsibilities."

Immigration officers found a Sri Lankan man working at the meat counter on September 7 and he was escorted from the building and detained.

This raised concern with the authority after a different Sri Lankan male was found working in the same area in January 2015.

PC Simon Wheeler, from TVP's Licensing department, echoed the concerns of the council about the lack of cooperation at Best Foods.

He added: "During what was intended to be an informal visit it became blatantly obvious that there were serious concerns in relation to this premises and its processes with regards to the retail of alcohol.

"No staff member wished to communicate with us and we were left standing for a long period of time while attempting to identify who was in charge.'

The son of the named DPS claimed to know nothing about the licence and said his father was in Sri Lanka and had left him in charge of the shop.