Melksham Farmer to Stand Trial for Using Unlicensed Labour

One of Melksham's biggest dairy farmers will face trial for allegedly

employing foreign farmhands from an unlicensed 'gangmaster'.

The case followed investigation of Marden Management, a Wiltshire

agency placing overseas workers at local farms. The investigation

allegedly found Marden did not have a licence, and although

the agency itself is not facing charges, a total of 19 dairy farmers

will be tried after Swindon's District Judge Simon Cooper decided the

case warranted a criminal trial.

The farmers claim that they did not know Marden was inlicenced, while the firm claims it did not know it needed a licence.

The case hinges on whether highly skilled dairymen are subject to

gangmaster regulation or whether that just applies to unskilled manual

labourers, who the laws were created to protect.

The case involves farmers across the west. Local Melksham farmer BJ

Stainer and Sons is one of the 19, along with farms from Pewsey,

Gloucestershire and Dorset.