'Fines for stowaways
Page 8
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not close to the top'
By Chris Tindall
CONCERNS HAVE been raised that hauliers targeted by stowaways trying to reach the UK, despite drivers' best efforts to stop them, could pay higher fines, after a report said they were too low.
The independent chief inspector of borders and immigration John Vine said the level of penalties levied on drivers and hauliers by Border Force was not consistent with official guidance. He said: "None of the fines that were imposed in our sample were close to this maximum, even in cases where drivers and/or haulage operators had been fined previously."
Vine warned that setting penalties "significantly lower" than the maximum of £2,000 per clandestine diluted the deterrent effects, and he recommended that fines were appropriate and consistent with guidance issued with the Code of Practice.
However, Don Armour, head of international services at the Freight Transport Association, said: "It does suggest a hardening in their attitude and we will do our best, along with the Road Haulage Association [RHA], to ensuring decent, professional companies are still treated with discretion and flexibility." The RHA head of international affairs, Peter Cullum, said: "We have a civil penalty regime; we have a process. If they are going to raise the bar, then we will see
where it takes us. We don't know what it means in practice. We don't think there's been an easy application of the code of practice. If [Vine] wants to raise fines, then that's an issue."
Border Force said it accepted the recommendation, and that it would bring the two units responsible for the setting and collection of penalties together to improve the scheme.