1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210 
End of the line for the stowaway fine fiasco
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE UK government will not have to return £2m in stowaway fines from its £2,000-per-head civil penalty scheme to operators, following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.
A number of hauliers appealed to the court for a refund of the fines they had paid when the government decided not to pursue about film of unpaid fines levied under the scheme (CM I January 2003).
The Home Office argued that by handing over the cash the hauliers had admitted their guilt. This followed the Roth court case which saw the system condemned as violating operator's rights to a fair trial.
But the European Court has ruled there is no guarantee under the European convention that fines paid, even under a scheme later found to be unlawful, could be refunded.
Solicitor Jane George from Rothera Dowson says: "It's disappointing that those who paid up and were law abiding have been left out of pocket, while those that didn't pay have been given an amnesty.
"The court also said individual operators did not take sufficient action in the UK courts to obtain a refund. This is a harsh decision because in reality there were no proceedings that they could have taken following the conclusion of the Roth litigation.
"The one case where if have brought such a claim failed in the British Courts for legal,rather than evidential reasons. Nevertheless this does seem to be the end of the road as there is no right of appeal."
One of the affected hauliers, Eric Vick of Eric Vick Transport, says he is disappointed with the result:"We tried our best but in the end those of us who paid up have been penalised. It's a disgrace but we'll just have to grin and bear it."
• See Comment, page 3.