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Home Office plans to double stowaway fines to 14,000
Page 6
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• by Sally Nash The Home Office sent shock waves through the industry last week when it announced plans to double the maximum stowaway fine to 14,000-a-headwithout any consultation.
The proposed amendment to the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill was announced quietly on 24 April as part of a raft of measures designed to improve the asylum system.
Both major trade associations immediately condemned the move. They had believed that the thorny issue of civil penalties had been put on ice by the Court of Appeal judgment that the fines contravene EU human rights laws and the likelihood of further court cases ( CM28 Feb-6 March).
Freight Transport Association chief executive Richard Turner (inset) has written to Home Office Minister Lord Jeffrey Rooker raising his concerns about the lack of consultation.
The Road Haulage Association is similarly incensed. Mike Freeman, head of international affairs at the RI-IA, describes the move as "below the belt", adding: ''We have had no consultation on this and even MPs didn't know about it as it was an amendment to the Bill."
A spokeswoman for the Home Office has confirmed international operators' worst fears, stressing that the
maxi
mum fine for each illegal immigrant will be "up to" .£4,000.
She claims that the change to the variable fine system was made after the Court of Appeal ruled that the fixed-level fines contravene European human rights laws.
Home Secretary David Blunkett, who had previously warned that he would change the legislation in order to continue with civil penalties, describes the new system as "flexible and fair".
"Variable penalties for carriers and hauliers bringing in illegal immigrants will continue to help strengthen our borders while complying with the Roth [Court of Appeal] ruling," says Blunkett, have no intention of penalising businesses who do all they can to stop illegal immigrants coming to the UK." Dover-based EJ Bywater was hit with a £16,000 stowaway fine last year but, like other fined hauliers, has not been chased for payment.
Transport Manager Paul Hignett says: "I thought it was all dead and buried and the government couldn't pursue us for the fines now. I think the government is trying to recoup some of its costs from the cases it has lost."
Jane George, a lawyer at Rothera Dawson, who represented a group of UK hauliers in the Court of Appeal action, says: "if they are seriously thinking of a £4,000 fine then that is ridiculous, particularly after there was such criticism of the £2,000 level. There has been no consultation or discussion and that's what got them into this mess in the first place—by not listening."
In addition to the new fine system the Home Office plans to give hauliers the right to appeal to a County Court to attempt to overturn the fines or reclaim impounded vehicles.