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CO MEN!
Page 7
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Give it back!
"Chris nas? Bah, humbug!"
Ebenezer Scrooge's pithy response to the season of giving would no doubt be seconded by the Home Office. Having spent a great deal of taxpayers' money defending its decision to fine luckless international operators who have unwittingly transported illegal immigrants (surely 'economic migrants') into the UK, it has finally dropped its attempts to collect the L12m of fines issued by Immigration Services.
Now that the Home Office has abandoned its dairn to the i12m it must offer a full refund to those operators who, according to the FTA, have already shelled out £2111 in stowaway fines.
In case anyone thinks Commercial Motor is being naive let's make something dear: we have not the slightest sympathy for any operator or driver who has connived with the traffickers of human misery. They should get what they deserve-which is a stretch behind bars.
But the vast majority of drivers and operators who have been hit by stowaway fines are innocent