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ovions paill 111111.1W III The Immigration Minister Beverley Hughes — has snubbed
Page 4
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the Freight Transport Association, claiming all hauliers who paid the now discredited civil penalties have admitted their guilt—simply by paying. Both the ETA and CM have long-argued that many operators who paid the £2m in fines that the government is hanging on to did so only in a desperate bid to save the their home or business.
However, Hughes writes: "Those who have paid the penalties have accepted their liability under the legislation. Those matters are not outstanding and we are under no legal obligation to return any of the paid penalties...hauliers who have applied to have paid penalties reimbursed are being advised that there is no legal obligation on the Home Office to dose. I do not accept that these payments were made under duress but rather as a result of these hauliers accepting liability."
This letter comes as yet more evidence emerges of desperate hauliers agreeing payments solely because their businesses were on the line.
Merthyr Tydfil-based Davies European Service has paid £4,000 of a total £12,000 fine; it only paid as the immigrants were found in a leased trailer, leaving it liable for the leasing firm's legal casts as well. Boss Pam Davies says: "If it had happened more than once, it would have meant the end of our business. Something like this is hard to take when you are just going about your business, trying to earn a living. The whole system makes out that hauliers are worse than thieves."
Davies joins a growing list of hauliers who paid up under duress: Somersetbased Keats Transport; Wakefield firm ELBA transport; Gloucester haulier Eric Vick Transport and Northern Irelandbased Derek Anderson.
• Angry? Frustrated? Fed up with the Home Office's attitude to the industry? Then we need your support. See page 9 for details of how you can help.