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Don't look for logic
Page 8
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We've spent a long time wondering why the Home Office has decided to double the maximum fine for operators and truck drivers caught with stowaways to £4,000 a head. The most plausible answer we can come up with is: "Because it can".
We don't suppose international operators will be too impressed by that answer; neither are we. But frankly we're at a loss to find any logic behind the decision. There's been no consultation. No discussion. No consideration of the fact that the fines have been declared unfair by the courts.
It all smacks of politicking. After taking flak for the shambles that passes for an asylum policy The government now wants to be seen as being "tough on illegal immigration, tough on the causes of.." well, you get the picture.
The only sensible new measure is that penalties can now be challenged at a County Court—and the courts will be empowered to order the release of an operator's truck that has been wrongly seized.
But it all means that no haulier can afford to have anything other than a z00% perfect procedure for checking vehicles and cargo before his wagons return to the mother country The RHA and FTA have both condemned it. It's now time for them to show their true metal—and how much influence they really have with Blair's
government. Brian Weatherley. Editor-in-ONO.