No evidence of sex trafficking as Richmond massage parlor renews license | Local News | News | News from Twickenham Center

Richmond council's licensing sub-committee decides to renew Oriental-style massage and beauty after concerns over poor record keeping, but owners aim to “make improvements”.

In its decision, the subcommittee explains that the company has been operating in Richmond Road, Kingston for 10 years without a single complaint until recently and that it should be given the opportunity to install its new electronic records system to improve client/therapist record keeping. in the shop.

A complaint by a resident to a ward councilor led Richmond council licensing officer John McGann to visit the store last year and speculate the massage parlor might be operating as a brothel.

However, the council's licensing officer, Ms Sumeet Anand, began the meeting by explaining to councilors that only the breach of conditions was being considered and not allegations of sexual services against the business.

Sex trafficking allegations

Representing the directors of Oriental Style Massage and Beauty, Ms Jinlan Long and Ms Yujun Qin, were sales consultant, Richard East and Long's husband, Ian Hendren.

East told cllrs at the meeting on Thursday, May 30: “If the license is not accepted then we will find ourselves in a very serious situation as there will potentially be a substantial loss of income and financial hardship for people that I represent here today.

“We believe that the meetings and the air that we received from the inspectors (licensing officers) who arrived indicated that there had already been training errors because of the report. There was never had no proof, we were never presented with any proof of this practice (sexual services).

Denying claims that the business operated as a brothel and trafficked women, East went on to tell clrs that he understands that Oriental Style Massage and Beauty failed to maintain client and therapist records properly.

Immigration services raid the Oriental Massage and Beauty Style

East then explains his frustration with how the licensing team decided to proceed after the first visit to the massage parlor (October 12, 2023), where the business was raided by immigration officials.

“The next thing that happened after the first visit, that's the first warning, was that we were raided by immigration and, quite honestly, by six immigration officers in one store — in a store that’s probably a third of that size,” East said.

East adds: “And again, when we ask if there was evidence before this took place, that is, did anyone observe the store to see if there were “too-ing” and “fro-ing” or whatever. and ask if there is sex trafficking. No, there wasn't.

“We were simply raided and the result was a clean bill of health.”

Massage shop representatives, Ian Hendren (left) and Richard East (credit: Richmond Council).

Failure of Oriental Style Massage and Beauty to properly track client/therapist records

Regarding the massage parlor's failure to properly track client and therapist records in accordance with the conditions of the shop's license, East says the shop would have been able to provide them if council officers had provided for a meeting.

East says: “We think these are records and yet we still have these surprise encounters.

“Those unannounced meetings, what we call boom meetings, when they come in and say 'come into the store, we're going to check this, check that' – those are records, records aren't going to go out the window.

“Why can’t we have a scheduled meeting?

“I've been in business 50 years and I'm retired now. I don't think I've ever had a meeting where people showed up and said 'I want to see you now'.”

He continued: “Our records haven't been as good as we would like. We went from a paper recording system, A4 sheets with writing on them, it wasn't particularly good.

“We then integrated the industry standard processing cards and then transferred all the paper records onto these cards with more client information over time.”

East tells CLLRS that the company is working to implement cloud-based software called Vagaro to record client and therapist records. If a client refuses to provide personal information, they will be turned away by Oriental Style Massage and Beauty.

Continuing to criticize the approach of licensing officers in handling the complaint against the store, East calls the claims “fabricated opinions rather than facts and evidence” as he has never received a complaint before the most recent after 10 years, citing the store. “loyal” customers.

Liberal Democrat councilor Rob O'Carroll questions East and tells him that officers are allowed to make unannounced visits and why in the last 10 years has the store not been able to implement the correct case tracking system – referencing an incident in another massage. salon where a customer died on a table and his next of kin could not be contacted due to the company's lack of customer records.

East responds: “For the last 10 years we have submitted all our details to the licensing team, we have never been asked any questions, we have never had any meetings that brought up this particular detail (the customer files) in the foreground. before our minds.

“We have kept records. They have been on A4 pieces of paper, they have now moved to the appropriate license cards and we recognize the importance of this issue and I think it is increasingly being brought to the forefront as a result. to what has happened in recent months.

“It took us a while, we made it clear to the team where we were and what we were doing. We recognize the risk that someone could be seriously injured or ill. We have comprehensive insurance to cover this, should – I say: the worst could happen and we are doing everything possible to gather all the information.

In his closing remarks, licensing officer McGann told the hearing that since his first visit to Oriental Style Massage and Beauty on October 12, 2023, he has tried to “work with the locals” to ensure they complied with license conditions.

He said: “We tried to work with the locals, we issue a warning letter, we highlight the failings and then we follow up, so it was disappointing then that a little over a month later and a second visit (November 18, 2023), the same violations were committed.

“And then when the renewal application came and I visited my colleagues, we found out exactly the same violations, and then we invited these good people (Oriental Style Massage and Beauty) for a meeting at the Center civic and we came up against a wall of refusal to accept that they did not respect these conditions.

McGann then explains that the massage parlor is using customers refusing to give their details, GDPR, council officers and immigration officers as an “excuse”, while he and the licensing team were “just doing their thing”. work “.

The licensing officer tells the cllrs: “As a licensing authority, we must have 100% confidence in all premises that fall under our regime. With our recent experience with oriental massage, I am not not sure that they will have any confidence in return and that they will be able to respect the standard conditions.

Ian Hendren, husband of store manager Mrs Jinlan Long, told cllrs in his closing speech that despite what McGann might believe, they had “worked hard” to ensure high standards.

Husband says, “I feel like we've gone to great lengths to accommodate everything we've been asked to do… we've tried really hard to add and add and add layers and layers of health and safety and what we”ve been asked to do and I've worked really hard on it, and I appreciate that John doesn't see it from his point of view, but from my perspective, I feel like I worked really hard to support my wife (Long).”

He adds: “The other thing I wanted to say, John asked why we had notices (refusal of requests for sexual services) in the store and my wife always told me the secret to a good deal is to 'have reliable and loyal customers. and for 10 years she worked very hard to achieve this, but in the beginning I had to listen to phone calls from men asking me things I shouldn't do.

Appearing emotional, Hendren continued: “She worked very hard to weed out these people and get good clients. I think there is this perception of Asian women that somehow they are somehow comes out of the players and are ready to do it and I walked with her (JinLan Long) down the street, then she took a few steps behind her and some men approached her saying “hey, you look beautiful. “and trying to talk to her and I had to walk beside her and pull her away.”

Director Yujun Qin, who has lived in the UK for 22 years, also told Cllrs that the company was “doing its best” in a difficult economic environment.

In response to the original complaint, Licensing Manager Sumeet Anand explains that due to GDPR, the council cannot share this information under any circumstances.

She also says the intensity of raids by immigration officers is not up to the clearance team to decide.

To learn more about the Richmond Licensing Subcommittee meeting on Thursday, May 30, click here

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