No proof from ferry cameras
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• Drivers fined for bringing illegal immigrants into Britain who claim their trucks were "clean" before boarding the ferry will not be able to rely on the ferry operator's CCTV footage for their defence.
P&O Stena confirms that CCTV cameras watch each of its vehicle decks. but the cameras operate in "real time" and are not designed to record.
A P&O spokesman says the cameras are there for safety purposes—to catch signs of a fire, for example— and there are no plans to upgrade the system. "To record every action on the deck would require hundreds of cameras as the lorries are so closely packed togethen" he adds.
Gary Hodgson of solicitors Ford & Warren says CCTV footage "would not necessarily help" as the Immigration and Asylum Code of Practice states that vehicles should be checked regularly en route. "The key to everything is to follow the Code of Practice and to devise a comprehensive checklist for drivers to follow," he explains. "Check the vehicle again before disembarking, and it passible get a third party to witness the check."