Haulier held in Calais says no more trips'
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• by Nikki Daly A Farnborough haulier who claims he was held for 24 hours when accused of transporting 16 illegal immigrants by Calais police says he will never go to the Continent again.
Stewart Spearman of MS Transeuropean says he was stopped last week and held in custody overnight but denied his basic right to a telephone call, food or drink.
He adds that on his release French police told him that if he found any other illegal immigrants he should beat them up. "It scared me to death," says Spearman. "Nobody knew were I was—the police tried really hard to intimidate me.
"They said if I called the police in future I would be arrested and charged with smuggling immigrants," he adds. "It's a no-win situation—you can be done by the authorities for assisting immigrants or nicked for telling the police that you've found some."
This incident adds to the mounting evidence that Continental officials are turning a blind eye to illegal immigrants who are being passed from country to country, with the UK being the end of the fine.
According to recent Freight Transport Association research, Continental and UK authori ties are only detecting 3% of immigrants who come over on trucks, while hauliers themselves are discovering around 90%.
Other drivers report that immigrants are becoming more cunning at breaking into sealed and padlocked trucks—and that some of them are carrying weapons.
• The code of practice which, if followed, will excuse hauliers from paying the impending £2.000 fine for bringing in illegal immigrants. is being drawn up by a standing committee of MPs. The MPs are also involved in the Immigration and Asylum Bill which will authorise the fine. These fines will not become active until the code has been drawn up.