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 
INNOCENT DRIVER JAILED IN FRANCE FOR 10 WEEKS
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Last week the latest in a string of British lorry drivers accused of carrying drugs was released without charge. Miles Brignall spoke to him.
International driver Stan Allsop spent 10 weeks in a French iail, accused of smuggling drugs. Last week he was freed without explanation or apology: now he is determined to clear his name.
Alkap° was arrested in Calais after customs officers found heroin in a sealed trailer he had just picked up. He spent more than 10 weeks in St Omer prison after being refused boil. Just before his arrest Allsop had swapped trailers in the normal way with a Belgian driver in Eurotunnel's parking area. The load of medical tissue was sealed; the first time Allsop saw the semi was as he hitched it up to his tractor. Handcuffed and strip searched, he was interviewed for two days and forced to stay in a cell furnished with nothing but a
bench. Only after he had appeared before the local judge was he allowed to write to his family and employer, Trevor Paul of Twente Express. Those letters took 24 days to arrive.
"The only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that I was innocent and I had to get out for my Family's sake," says Allsop. "The hardest thing was the lack of contact: not knowing if anything was being done to get me out." In fact a local lawyer had quickly been appointed and was working to free him. After 10 weeks of incarceration Allsop was suddenly called over the prison tannoy. A prison guard told him he was free and an hour-and-half later he was outside the jail. A local Anglican priest, who had visited him throughout the ordeal, took him home to phone his wife and gave him a lift to the ferry in Calais. Allsop says: "I felt so angry while I was locked up----when I was told I could go I couldn't quite believe it. Words can't describe t h moment when
was reunited with Linda and the family.' Allsop: "I had to get out for my family's sake." He now wants official confirmation that the matter has been dropped, only then will cornpen sation be discussed. "I've had a completely clean record during my 20 years of driving,' he says proudly. 1 want it to stay that way."
Allsop plans to carry on working as a driver, but only after a foreign holiday, which will not be in France.