Haulier to sue over drug gang
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by Karen Miles • An owner-driver alleges that Customs & Excise backed out of an agreement to protect him from a drugs gang: he plans to sue the Government department for lost earnings worth £200,000.
Charlie Marks of Upwood, near Huntingdon says he hopes a High Court writ will be issued before Christmas. Customs denies there is any basis for compensation.
The controversy surrounds allegations from Marks that he was approached in October 1992 by a group of men who wanted to use him for the international movement of drugs.
Marks says he contacted Customs and, with their cooperation, ran a controlled run from Italy in the hope of bringing the gang to justice. Marks alleges Customs promised to protect him financially and physically. Customs found no drugs on the truck when it returned to the UK, although Marks says that two suspicious packages put on board in Italy had disappeared.
Marks says he suffered numerous broken bones and damaged eyesight as a result of injuries inflicted by the drugs gang. In Christmas 1992 he says he had his fingers slammed in the door of his cab in Calais.
He claims he lost two wheels within months of this incident.
A spokesman for Customs says: "Ourselves and Kent Police couldn't get to the bottom of why he was injured and the allegations of drugs runners."
Marks company, Huntingdon-based JCM Transport, has ceased trading. And Marks himself has an individual voluntary arrangement which holds off his £90,000 debt to creditors for three years.