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The government must be held to account for the trade

3rd August 2000, Page 42
3rd August 2000
Page 42
Page 42, 3rd August 2000 — The government must be held to account for the trade
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

In illegal immigration, argues David Illggin bottom, general secretary of the United Road Transport Union.

• If you Want to sound off about a road transport Issue write to features editor Patric Cunnane or fax your views (up to 600 words) to Ricky Clarke on 0206062 8912.

i Sixty illegal immigrants found-58 dead! Stunning,

shocking, tragic. No words can adequately express the sense of horror people felt when they heard of the grisly find in a Dutch refrigerated truck at Dover last month. To those of us doing our best to fight the trade in human suffering it came as a crushing blow.

But we cannot allow our feelings about the tragic loss of even so many young lives to colour our perceptions or to allow politicians to draw conclusions not justified by the facts. We must not assume that because someone was engaged in the illegal smuggling of human beings it justifies any kind of action, however draconian, against truck drivers and operators. We almost certainly find the mugging of old ladies equally reprehensible but we don't round up all the residents of areas in which such attacks occur and hold them responsible for not stopping the crimes.

Smugglers use the road haulage system because they can. They know that trucks are not designed to prevent illegal access to the cargo space for contraband or other purposes.

Drivers' hours regulations and the shortage of adequate and secure roadside facilities mean that trucks, particularly

curtainsiders, and their drivers are likely to remain a soft target for the gangs' activities.

Drivers cannot cope, often in remote locations, with the threat posed by desperate and possibly armed stowaways. They have no detection equipment and they are not trained in unarmed combat. Smuggling techniques have improved over the years but truck security is characterised by neglect. It is no good asking drivers to take on the role of immigration officials and then fining them if they fail to stop their determined opponents.

There must be occasions when drivers and operators are tempted by large rewards. But most of them are decent people trying to earn a living. They know that the solution to the problem of illegal immigrants is a structural one. It requires changes in our attitudes to trailer design, combined with secure facilities for loading and overnight rest. It requires the law enforcement and immigration authorities to take proper responsibility for their own functions and not to shuffle off that responsibility onto the shoulders of others. It requires screening facilities at all crossborder points and adherence to the time-honoured principle of British justice that an accused person is innocent until proven guilty. No penalty should be imposed for alleged breaches of the law unless, and until, the accused has received a fair trial.

The present legislation is a flagrant breach of the existing European convention on Human Rights and the imminent Human. Rights Act. As such, it will be challenged in the courts. But litigation is a lengthy process and direct action on a European scale is a more immediate threat to the stability of our economy. Plans are afoot in Europe, including Britain, for a blockade of our ports on such a scale that it will bring our economy to its knees.

In Britain's economy our industry has long been a beast of burden. Now its back has been broken by a lightweight Straw and a disregard for the judicial process. There is still time, just, for the government to remove this latest burden and to co-operate with all sides of our industry to find a solution to this very real problem. If they insist upon collecting millions of pounds in unjust fines while ignoring their real responsibilities many more immigrants will die or be forced into slavery and we will know who are the real merchants of doom.


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