Stowaway defendants face a single group court case
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r by Guy Sheppard
In an unprecedented and heavily criticised move, the government is to deal with the hundreds of hauliers who are refusing to pay stowaway fines in a single court hearing.
In the latest twist to the legal battle over stowaways the Home Office has applied for a Group Litigation Order (CIO) to deal with all the cases together, saying it will save time without compromising hauliers' right to a fair hearing.
But industry observers believe the move could be a ploy to spare the government any embarrassment prior to the general election: organising such a hearing is likely to be a complicated procedure.
CLOs are normally used by several claimants to take on a single defendant, such as when train crash victims sue a railway company. In this case a single claimant—the Home Office—is applying for a GLO against a number of defendants; this is believed to be the first case of its kind.
Jane George. a partner at solicitors Rothera Dowson, says a GLO could set the scene for a major legal challenge to the fines. She says: "We don't know how much it will cost until we know how many hauliers are prepared to put their hands in their pockets. There are a huge number of issues that could arise from this sort of action."
So far 29 hauliers have received a summons for nonpayment and George warns that this figure could rise to hundreds in the next few weeks as a backlog of cases is processed.
A Home Office spokeswoman insists: The reason behind the GLO application is that we wish to resolve a number of issues common to all cases and, at the same time, save the court's time and costs."
But Newcastle haulier Peter Cook, who is one of those facing the joint action, says: "So far people like me have been paying for legal advice to test the legality of the government's legislation. We certainly wouldn't want to see our hearing lumped together with another haulier who may have not been so careful."
• A removals boss who headed up a familyrun "people smuggling" business has received a record jail sentence. Stephen Hobbs ran the operation from a farm near Hemel Hempstead, Herts.
He was jailed for nine years and his brother John for seven-and-a-half years. John Hobbs' son Darren and another man, Warren Charge, were jailed for three years. All four had denied the charges.