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ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
Page 32
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• Criminal gangs continue to target unsuspecting drivers as a means of smuggling illegal immigrants into the UK.
Methods used include cutting brake air-lines while trucks are stuck at traffic lights so stowaways can break into the truck while the driver carries out repairs.
Since December, drivers and operators have faced maximum fines of up to £2„000 for every stowaway carried.
The size of fine depends on whether adequate security devices and checks were used, as well as whether any help was given to the smugglers or stowaways.
A check by government scanners at Calais is no guarantee of innocence, according to Bristol-based Westfield International.
One of its trucks was found with two stowaways on-board, despite the vehicle having been scanned beforehand.
Fixed rate fines for carrying stowaways were abandoned following a successful legal chal
lenge, but despite a high, profile campaign by CM, the Home Office is refusing to return the L2m it took from hauliers in fines. CM is backing a group set up by solicitors Rothera Dowson which is investigating taking the claim to the European Court of Human Rights.