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Home Office cheats hauliers on stowaways yet again!
Page 4
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EXCLUSIVE
• by Dominic Perry The government's undertaking to treat hauliers fairly under its new stowaway penalty scheme has been revealed as an empty promise after an operator was fined £2,000 despite going through official checks.
The new rules, introduced as part of the Immigration, Nationality and Asylum Act in December last year, promised that operators caught with stowaways on board would be treated fairly if they had complied with the Home Office's code of practice. The industry assumed this meant anyone going through the government's scanners at Calais would have taken steps towards complying and so escape the penalties.
However, Bristol-based Westfield International has now been hit with a .22,000 fine after two stowaways were found in its trailer. The fine is split 50/50 between the company and its driver David Newman.
Although the firm admits there was no TIR cord or seal in place, a copy of the P&,0 pre-embarkation check shows that just seven out of the 48 trucks on the sheet had seals and only two had TIR cords. Even with a TIR cord fitted, most operators acknowledge that gaining illegal entry to a curtain
sider is still depressingly easy.
The Immigration Service also claimed that there was no proof that Newman had been through the scanner or had the P&L visual check.
But as Westfield boss Bob Downton points out, getting a signature from the scanner operators is impossible: "The day after we were found with the stowaways we sent all seven drivers to get signatures, but [the scanner operators] just refused outright."
Downton also believes that the stowaways got into the trailer while the truck was on the ferry. While the Immigration Service has long denied this is happening, one of Westfield's drivers remained with his truck during the ferry crossing two days after the first incident. He saw four stowaways on the car deck attempting to break into trucks.
Downton blasts: "I totally refuse to pay the fine even if it's upheld after our appeal. Why should hauliers have to police the state for the government?
IX, there are crooks in the haulage industry but why should everybody be penalised for the actions of a small minority? We've kept our side of the bargain so why can't the government keep its side?"
The government's position was also attacked by the Freight Transport Association. Chief executive Richard Turner asserts: "Clearly they are not living in the real world. Hauliers go through all these checks and people are still getting through. An operator cannot be blamed for other people's security lapses, especially if they have got in on the ferry."
The RHA's Roger King fumes: "There is no way you can make a trailer secure in that kind of environment. If they are going on [to the ferry] clean and coming off dirty, there is no way the government can fine the haulier."
A spokesman for P&O acknowledges that stowaways are still getting on board vessels, but says it has detected 236 clandestines in checks at Calais so far this year.
• Seven Iraqis were detained trying to board a Portsmouthbound ferry at Caen last Thursday. The discovery supports anecdotal evidence that stowaways are now targeting ports other than Calais.
• E-mail: dominic.perry@rbi. co.uk