Hauliers slam ‘absolutely ridiculous’ Home Office fines after discovery of illegal immigrants on board their lorries
- Alcaline Transport in Kent said it was fined up to GBP3,000 per stowaway
By Miriam Kuepper[1] and Frankie Elliott[2]
Published: 01:14, 14 March 2024 | Updated: 02:22, 14 March 2024
Hauliers have slammed 'absolutely ridiculous' Home Office[3] fines after the discovery of illegal immigrants on board their lorries.
Bosses at Alcaline Transport, in Hythe, Kent, said they are speaking to lawyers over the 'completely unfair' fines and are considering to launch a High Court judicial review into the Home Office, the i newspaper reports.
They claimed that the firm was fined up to GBP3,000 per stowaway after Border Force and French checks failed to locate the migrants in three instances, which were only discovered when the trucks arrived at the firm.
Alcaline Transport, which has a fleet of around 150 lorries, said it has already lost GBP110,000 to GBP120,000 a year in damaged goods after migrants snuck inside as the drivers slept.
Lorenzo Zaccheo, the owner and manager of the firm, told the i: 'We want to take the Government to court. It is absolutely ridiculous what they are doing.
Migrants climb in the back of a lorry on the A16 highway leading to the Eurotunnel on June 23, 2015 in Calais, northern France
Lorenzo Zaccheo (pictured), the owner and manager of the firm, told the i: 'We want to take the Government to court. It is absolutely ridiculous what they are doing'
Police officers arrest two men, believed to be migrants, who were stowed away in the back of a Polish lorry at Oxford Services on the M40 motorway on May 3, 2018 in Oxford
'We do due diligence. We stick to the Home Office guidance.
And despite all of that it's an automatic fine. Hauliers and lorry drivers are not police officers.'
Mr Zaccheo added that one of the firm's drivers was beaten up after he confronted migrants who snuck on his truck.
A manager at the firm, Dominic Graham, said that there has been an increase in haulier fines in the last six months, which he believes indicated a rise in attempted crossings by lorry.
He said that despite his firm immediately calling the police to take the illegal immigrants away, they received fines for having 'unsecure vehicles' after the migrants boarded them without being discovered on three separate occasions.
This comes after Ed Rogers, owner of E.M. Rogers Transport, said he is furious with the UK Border Force after its officials found six migrants on one of his company's lorries at the French border which he claims 'snuck into the back'.
The Home Office fined him GBP66,000 and the businessman said he and his driver were being punished for 'not being border force agents or security guards'.
He told GB News[4]: 'Our guys are just normal guys going about their work and they are not border force agents.
They are not security guards. He and we are being punished on this occasion for not fulfilling those roles.'
The haulier company had previously claimed another of its lorries was attacked by migrants in France[5], who used iron bars and breeze blocks to smash its windscreen and door windows.
Writing about the fine on Facebook[6], Rogers claimed his company, which has been operating for nearly 80 years, was 'actually the victims of organised gangs'.
MailOnline understands the fine was in relation to a number of cases of negligence from its drivers, with a probe into the firm ongoing.
Home Office figures show more than 3,000 people have crossed the English Channel[7] in small boats so far this year.
The haulier company had previously claimed another of its lorries was attacked by migrants in France in 2021
But Mr Rogers says he and one of his drivers are being punished for the incident involving the six migrants, who were found in the back of one of his lorries by UK border police in France.
He claims the lorry had been travelling from Italy through France to reach Britain and managed to get through French security checks before being held up at the UK's scanners.
Mr Rogers said: 'We are just going about our normal working practices and in this example one of our drivers was coming back from Italy.
'He came back through the normal route back through France. He went through the scanners on the French side of the border.
'When it came to the UK side, which is still in France, they found six immigrants in his trailer.'
Mr Rogers, whose company transports rare, valuable and classic cars across Europe on its lorries, took to social media on Monday to criticise the fine.
He wrote: 'We have been fined this frankly ridiculous amount of money for honestly doing our job, alongside our driver who has been fined GBP36,000, UK Border Force are fining us for bringing 6 illegals over in one of our trucks.
'This is the same Border Force that can't stop the boats we hear about arriving daily from across the channel.
'We are actually the victims of organised gangs that target vulnerable lorry drivers whilst they sleep.
Can you imagine having your house broken into at night and then being fined for it ?'
In May 2021, Pictures of a E.M.
Rogers Transport lorry, shared by the businessman, showed its smashed windows and broken body work from where he claims it was attacked by the migrants.
Two large, circular smashes are seen in the windshield with some holes in the glass, while the door windows appear to have been totally destroyed.
At the time, he called for more action to be taken to protect haulage workers driving in and out of mainland Europe.
MailOnline understands an investigation into Mr Rogers' claims are still ongoing.
A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We are relentless in our pursuit of those who seek to enter the UK illegally, and stand ready to respond robustly to clandestine arrivals.
Mr Rogers said said he and his driver were being punished for 'not being border force agents or security guards'
Pictured: Migrants run across the A 16 motorway in an attempt to climb into the back of lorries bound for Britain while traffic is stopped upon waiting to board shuttles at the entrance to the Channel Tunnel site in Calais, northern France, on December 10, 2020
'Far too many vehicles are not adequately secured to stop migrants boarding them.
'That's why, in the last 12 months, we have strengthened the haulier civil penalty with significantly increased financial penalties to ensure that drivers are taking every reasonable step to deter illegal migration and disrupt people smugglers.'
In January 2023, the fines for lorry drivers who inadvertently brought stowaways into Britain rose from GBP2,000 to GBP10,000 for each 'clandestine entrant'.
The maximum fine applies for each migrant found in a vehicle, meaning if a driver has two stowaways they could face a GBP20,000 penalty.
Increased fines were introduced last year as part of the Government's determination to 'crack down on illegal migration' and 'to dismantle the organised criminal gangs behind it'.
While the exact number of migrants entering the UK clandestinely each year is not known, analysis from Migration Watch UK suggests that there have been at least 320,000 attempts to come to this country without prior permission from Northern France between 2014 and 2022.
In that time, there have been around 110,000 detected and reported irregular arrivals from Northern France via dinghy and lorry.
In the year ending June 2023, Home Office statistics showed there were 52,530 irregular migrants detected entering the UK, up 17 per cent from the year ending June 2022, with 85 per cent arriving by boat.
References
- ^ Miriam Kuepper (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Frankie Elliott (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Home Office (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ GB News (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ France (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Facebook (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ English Channel (www.dailymail.co.uk)