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took, say CM readers! BAc EXCLUSIVE
• by Dominic Perry International operators believe that the government should hand back the £2m worth of stowaway fines it has collected from hard-pressed hauliers.
In a snapshot survey, GM's news team spoke to 50 international hauliers from ownerdrivers to major players run
fling hundreds of vehicles.
Without exception they slammed the government's stubborn refusal to treat all hauliers equally.
Although it has cancelled the £12m worth of unpaid stowaway fines (CM 19 Dec 2002-1 Jan 2003) about 50 operators have been left staring at substantial dents in their profits, having paid the £2,000-per-head fines.
Colin Young from Surreybased Cranleigh Freight Services says: "It's disgusting and absolutely wrong. The government lost in court so these fines should be repaid."
Bob Downton from Bristol firm Westfield International adds: "Every penny should be repaid—plus costs. It's completely unfair."
The hauliers' views match CM'S disgust that the Home Office is refusing to repay the £2m, despite a Court of Appeal warning that the fines broke human rights legislation. The Home Office's view is that the hauliers who paid up admitted liability and it is therefore "appropriate that it keeps the money".
CM editor-In-chief Brian Weatherley disagrees: Only when the Home Office has refunded the money to innocent hauliers will we consider the matter dead and buried." (see Comment, right).
Our survey reveals that 82% of operators consider the new civil penalty scheme that came into force on 8 December is as bad as the original system. It seems they're not convinced by government claims that it's fairer.
In fact Antony Badman from Bristol haulier JK Badman is among those who thinks the new system is even worse. He says: "If I ever get caught with stowaways, God forbid, then I will refuse to pay point blank. I'm sending trucks down to Spain—why would I go all that way just to bring stowaways back?"
And Lisa Dolan from Essexbased BT Cullum, one of the first firms to be caught with stowaways under the original scheme, says: "The £2,000 fine didn't work and now people don't have to pay it, self that's wrong then doubling it won't make a blind bit of difference. It completely fails to address the problem."
Operators have also told us that more than twothirds of their drivers are worried about their safety when they're working on the Continent.
Ken McIntosh from Birmingham-based Bird's says its drivers have been threatened with guns and violence, or have been gassed while they slept.
GIlly Walters from Shepton Mallet firm Framptons International tells a similar story: "We are asking them to enter trailers where stow aways with knives might be hiding so I can understand their caution about having to confront people."
The survey also shows that Calais and the surrounding area is perceived as being much more of a problem than other locations. with 80% of operators telling us it is the worst part for stowaway trouble.
• I Additional reporting by Chris Tindall, Jennifer Ball and Emma Penny,