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Banged up... for being an international truck driver
Page 12
Page 13
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What would you do if a relative of yours suddenly disappeared on an international trip? And what if you found he was in a foreign jail for a crime he didn't commit? That's the desperate situation facing three people who are campaigning to get
their loved ones freed. Emma Penny and Chris Tindall report.
• There are almost 50 truck drivers locked up in French jails alone at the moment, either convicted, or accused of, carrying drugs or stowaways. Although the chance of being arrested and thrown in prison while on the Continent is estimated at one in 5,000, the effect it has on the individual and their family when it does happen is utterly devastating.
Now pressure group Fair Trials Abroad is highlighting the cases of six men currently languishing in foreign jails. This follows the release last week of its most prominent campaign focus, driver Steve Bryant, after nine years inside a Moroccan jail.
Emma Vasey's story
Emma's husband John—her partner in JD Vasey Transport—is in Perpignan prison in France where he's been held since 28 February. He hasn't so far been charged with anything but he can be held for two years without trial.
Emma is desperately worried about her husband, the effect it's having on their eight-year-old son, and whether their business will survive. And she has little chance of being able to visit him either; "I've been told that I could be arrested if I go out there because I am directly involved with the business."
It was late February when John picked up two pallets from a Spanish company. The CMR said he was transporting ceramic tiles, and Emma says they had no reason to doubt the company: they knew the contact and there was nothing suspicious about the loading procedure.
Shortly after midnight, his vehicle was searched by Customs at the Spanish/French border, and after opening several cartons, officers discovered almost a tonne of cannabis resin.
Four days later Emma was told her husband had been detained by French Customs. "I hadn't heard from him; we'd checked with ferry terminals, international haulage firms and truckstops and reported him as missing.
"One of his colleagues said the chances were that Customs had him. Eventually we were told that John had beer arrested for having drugs on his truck.
"Once I knew, it all became a blur. I didn't sleep for a week, and even now sleep is something other people seem to do. I wake in a cold sweat thinking about things."
Emma contacted the Consulate, in the hope that Customs would recognise their mistake and he'd be home in a couple of days. That was more than two months ago and John is still in prison.
"The Consulate can't help, they can only check his welfare and human rights—and I had a letter from John before the Consulate could tell me where he was."
Letters from John—he's not allowed access to a telephone—have been distressing. The prison holds three times more people than it should and he sleeps on a mattress or the floor. Emma and John's parents are sending him money each month to pay for his food as prisoners do their own cooking in their cells, but they haven't been able to visit hi-n yet. "We're still waiting for
visitor's passes for my mum and son to go and visit. John hasn't been found guilty; we don't even know if there is an investigation going on—we've been left in the lurch."
Emma's health is suffering as a result, but she says she has had great support from her friends and family, and has been in touch with her local MP Joyce Quinn. "She has been amazing."
However, Emma is less impressed by her MEP's response.
"John is adapting to it all quite well, but we don't want him to adapt, we want him home."