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Stowaway fines doubled a! driver is stabbed at Calais
Page 6
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• by Dominic Perry The government has outraged the industry by pressing ahead with amendments to the universally loathed civil penalty scheme which could force hauliers to pay £4,000 for each stowaway found in their trucks.
The new system, contained in changes to the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill which goes before the Commons today (Tuesday), is a direct response to the ruling earlier this year that the 12,000-ahead fines are unlawful (CM 28 Feb-6 Mar).
What has incensed the industry is the Home Office's refusal to consult it over the proposals. Roger King, chief executive at the Road Haulage Association, says: We are desperately concerned about the potential 100% increase in fines. We have not been consulted and the legislation appears to be going through Parliament regardless, but that seems to be the way that the Home Office tackles these things." Under the new proposals the maximum fine will be £4,000 which would be split 50-50 between the driver and operator. Depending on how the immigration service decides to apportion blame the driver or operator could be fined up to £2,000. There will be a sliding scale of fines, depending on the precautions that the operator or driver have taken to keep stowaways out. Customs will retain the power to seize vehicles, but operators will be able to appeal to the courts.
However, Gordon Linington, head of international trade at the Freight Transport Association, says the industry has not been given any idea of how much a low' or 'moderate' fine might be. Linington adds: "While we don't see the new system as wholly negative, improving a bad system does not turn it into a good one.
"It continues to penalise hauliers for doing nothing wrong while ignoring the French government which seems completely incapable of doing anything at all," he adds.
Both trade associations say government claims that the system is working, based on a 27% reduction in the number of stowaways found at Dover, ignores the increased security introduced at Calais and the fact that 73% of stowaways are still slipping through the net.
"It is a bizarre and amazing decision," says Ian Rothera, head of transport law at solicitor Rothera Dowson. He is "very concern about the government's move to increi fines to a maximum of £4,000, although says he welcomes the sliding scale— long as the scale starts at zero. No-i disputes that it's an extremely comp problem, but in our view it's pretty ti gusting that all the blame is heaped hauliers and drivers who have been used unpaid immigration officials."
With drivers already running the risk being seriously injured by increasin desperate stowaways, the potential £2,000-a-head fines can only add to i burden on them. King says: "It's like I soldiers in the First World War being told put their heads above the trench desp machine gun bullets flying everywhere, face being shot by their own side.
"Drivers now face the choice of be fined by the government or attacked illegal immigrants," he warns.