Unfair dismissal bid Stringfellows lap dancer a 'tax exile'

A lap dancer who is attempting to bring an unfair dismissal case against Stringfellows has been living as a "tax exile" within her own country, it was claimed today.

Nadine Quashie, 27, has never paid a "penny" in tax in her life, and is a "stranger" to the tax man, it was alleged at the central London employment tribunal.

The tribunal has heard that Ms Quashie, of Greenford, west London, took more than £1,000 home on busy nights working topless and in a G-string at the club over an 18-month period.

Her garter was stuffed with pre-paid vouchers from clients, called "heavenly vouchers", the tribunal was told, and on one night she made as much as £3,800.

The single mother is seeking permission to take Stringfellows to an employment tribunal claiming unfair dismissal after she was sacked by the club in December 2008.

Caspar Glyn, for Stringfellows, acknowledged that her job was an "unusual" way to earn money.

"To take off your clothes and be paid to do that, it is a curious, unusual situation, and it is a curious situation which is perhaps in itself unsuited to an employment relationship," he told the tribunal.

He added that Ms Quashie should not qualify to have her case heard by an employment tribunal as she had misrepresented her tax affairs.

He said the "able and intelligent" woman who had completed a year of a university accountancy and finance course, was a "liar" who had exaggerated and minimised her earnings to suit her own purposes.

She was "effectively living as a tax exile within our borders", he said.

"She is a stranger to the tax man, she has never paid a penny of tax in her life," he said.

"She has not simply underpaid her tax, she never ever paid any tax," he added.

Mr Glyn's remarks were made in the closing submissions of a three-day hearing into whether the dancer could claim unfair dismissal against Stringfellows.

She has told the tribunal that conditions at the club effectively meant dancers were employees and she should be entitled to a full tribunal hearing.

The dancer claimed she had not discovered her self-employed status until she was informed by another dancer five to six months after starting work for Stringfellows.

She told the tribunal that she had believed that the commission taken from her take home pay was for tax purposes.

Catherine Rayner, for Ms Quashie, said she "recognised" that there was a problem with her tax return but denied wrongdoing by her client.

"There is no evidence at all, other than supposition and allegation, that the claimant has sought to deliberately deceive anyone," she told the tribunal.

"On the contrary, I would say on the evidence that you have heard, she has been candid in her evidence because she is honest.

"She has not sought to present herself as suggested by the respondent as an ingenue but she is right, she was a lap dancer, she is not an accountant, she relied on the expertise of an accountant and errors have occurred."

The judgment in the case has been reserved.