Does anybody know how much the fine is if caught with immigrants on board? A guy i know was stopped at the train 3 weeks ago and put in one of the lanes where customs found 5 immigrants inside his trailer. Trailer was sealed and corded. Once closer inspected it eas found that the tir cord had been cut and rejoined. I remember it used to be £2000 per immigrant does anybody know if its still the same
Ive heard its upto £1000 a head dont quote me on that. I try not to park anywhere near calais and religiously always give the trailer a thorough going over before heading home
He never parcked as such just stopped at mcdonalds. Could turn out to be an expensive bigmac
I will sometimes stop for fuel at the as24 in dunkerque even then i will have a walk round the trailer and look underneath after ive fuelled u know what theyre like they could probably be under there in a flash and will risk life and limb in the hopes of a ride to the promised land
it’s £2000 per clandestine. but that can only be imposed if the driver hasn’t taken reasonable precautions to prevent them getting in.
A TIR cord, seal and padlock is a good start, and usually enough.
but it’s a good idea to make a record.
loaded at xxxx at xxxx hours.
slept overnight at xxxx, checked trailer at xxxx hours.
rechecked trailer 1 hour from calais at xxxx hours, then didn’t stop until entry to the port.
i don’t think your friend has much to worry about.
Never made a record of checks. Only loaded near lille then stopped once at maccy Ds then train his boss hasnt heard from customs yet so they dont know what to expect
So long as he can prove he done all the necarssary security checks and he done all he could to prevent it, he ‘should’ be OK.
I had 6 climb into my pallet locker at the Dunes one Thursday. The security gaurd with the dog found them and told me about it when I woke up. Pity really as I would have gladly given them a lift down to Rungis.
Not just the driver that gets the fine, the boss gets one too.
A driver who i know unknowingly brought several of them into blighty, The trailer was a box with tail lift fitted the Radcliffe type The door was sealed, Collected from Holland drove back to the ferry or train only stopping once for fuel in Belgium ,they had broken the seal and glued it together afterwards, He had nearly had gotten the delivery address before he heard them banging on the sides /roof ect he phoned plod ,who arrested them and subsequently him too ( on the request of ukba) he was released shortly afterwards but as they had seized the truck he had to spend the night in a hotel , the truck was released the next day, the load got rejected due to them climbing all over it as it was some type of medical supplies
He at a later date had to go to the ukba local office to give a formal statement, even though he did the checks had the paperwork for them, he still got a fine, not the £2000 per illegal but a lesser amount iirc £500 for all 6 of em,
Thing is they know how organised and devious they can be ,they even admit on the TV documentaries that the drivers genuinely did not know that they where on-board, but they will still seize the vehicle and still arrest/fine the driver/company despite this
And then they take the ■■■■ even further by allowing them to stay here, the revenue obtained isn’t spent on repatriating them, but on feeding/clothing/housing them instead
Heard a similar story to this before. If i heard them in my trailer once i was in i wouldnt be reporting it to be arrested and fined. Did the firm the guy worked for get fined aswell?
tam:
Heard a similar story to this before. If i heard them in my trailer once i was in i wouldn’t be reporting it to be arrested and fined. Did the firm the guy worked for get fined aswell?
Not sure if they did or not ,But it would of cost the company in other ways, as the load had to be returned to Holland , they may or may not of been paid for doing that
Thats the UKBA for you, arrest the driver and seize the truck for no logical purpose other than to exercise/Miss use the powers they have been given until it comes to dealing with the clandestines, then they suddenly are powerless to do anything with them,
Does any body know where i can down load vehicle security check sheets? Font currently use them , think its time i started
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20252160Just makes thing’s even worse still, anyone who has been fined for bringing them in, should appeal it based on this bs this is what cutbacks do, that and a a border agency that deploys too many resources to preventing tobacco and booze entering this country
A mate of mine got caught with 7 in his trailer at Dunkerque, they kicked them out, held him for 6 hours questioning him etc. They then let him go where he crossed the Channel, ran straight back to the yard and parked up. There were 3 or 4 of the lads in the yard that night when one of them spotted more getting out of his trailer.
They chased them all round the yard and managed to capture 6 more of them but 4 got away! Police were called etc and my mate explained what had happened…
Long story short, UKBA tried to do both the driver and the company. The company argued that whilst they held their hands up for the 7 they turfed out in Dunkerque, if the UKBA team couldn’t find the other 10 in a well lit rummage bay, how the hell did they expect a single driver to find them in the pitch black in a lorry park! Strangely enough, the UKBA didn’t proceed but fined him £500 in total for the 7 they originally found!
This has to be one of the biggest scams going. You turn up at Calais and they find some on your trailer, you, the law abiding citizen are arrested and face untold consequences of ridiculous severity and the ones who have actually broken the law are later released back into the streets of Calais, in a country they are breaking the law by even being in without the required visa’s etc, so that they can try again and again. Theoretically several dozen fines could be issued to different drivers for the very same illegal immigrant as he gets caught over and over again and released without charge or deportation. What a disgusting state of affairs that we are abused by the powers that be in our own country.
robinhood_1984:
This has to be one of the biggest scams going. You turn up at Calais and they find some on your trailer, you, the law abiding citizen are arrested and face untold consequences of ridiculous severity and the ones who have actually broken the law are later released back into the streets of Calais, in a country they are breaking the law by even being in without the required visa’s etc, so that they can try again and again. Theoretically several dozen fines could be issued to different drivers for the very same illegal immigrant as he gets caught over and over again and released without charge or deportation. What a disgusting state of affairs that we are abused by the powers that be in our own country.
I agree, a brilliant scam.
The way it used to work 10 years ago, or at least was supposed to work, was :-
You turned up at Calais,
You could go through the scanner,
You booked on at the ferry booth of your choice,
You could get a CO2 check,
If you were cleared but still suspicious that you had clandestines on, you got them to do an eyeball check there and then,
You either felt like a fool, or they got the Gendarmes to pull the clandestines out,
You joined the queue for the ferry you were booked on to and eventually set off for Dover,
Job done.
Or:-
you could go straight to the ferry booth and book on,
you could then go straight to the dockside queue,
set off for Dover,
Set off for your destination in UK and find you had clandestines on board after all.
You might be buggered, depending on what happened next.
Then someone decided that what they should do was to have UK Customs and Excise on the French side, for some reason they reasoned that this would cut down the number of clandestines getting through.
I wasn’t using Calais - Dover by this time and haven’t since then.
I had expected that the UK border post would be inserted between the CO2 check and the dockside queue.
The scanner and CO2 check were effectively voluntary, but a UK Customs check for clandestines would not be. Caught with clandestines after the initial checks and you’re buggered. Seems fair enough, up to a point, and at least they didn’t make it over the channel.
Everything I’ve heard since makes me think that UK Border is before any checks, other than drivers walk round checks, can be done.
Once you show your passport, you have in effect entered the UK Border.
If, after this, clandestines are found on your truck,
at the scanner or CO2 check or even if you’re suspicious and get an eyeball check,
you have entered the UK with clandestines on board so you’re buggered, well and truly.
And as has been pointed out already, the clandestines are released to simply go around the block and try to stow away on the next truck who has to stop somewhere near.
A brilliant scam.
Drivers can be fined up to £2000 per stowaway, but the company can be fined too. These people get released to have another go. If they make it to the UK mainland, they get kept in some comfort until they can be deported which can be a long time in the future.
I wish there was a like button
Is it my imagination but are the ones that made it over all working in car washes all over the uk, they appear to be Iraqi`s or Afghans, and not from eastern euroland.
toby1234abc:
Is it my imagination but are the ones that made it over all working in car washes all over the uk, they appear to be Iraqi`s or Afghans, and not from eastern euroland.
Eh?
As far as I’m aware, they have always been from the Middle East region. With a small number coming from the Far East and Africa.
I expect they were coming from Bosnia, Slovenia, Slovakia etc when that conflict was happening, but that was in the 90s.
Or is this just another one of your random posts on a totally different subject ? ? ?
robinhood_1984:
This has to be one of the biggest scams going. You turn up at Calais and they find some on your trailer, you, the law abiding citizen are arrested and face untold consequences of ridiculous severity and the ones who have actually broken the law are later released back into the streets of Calais, in a country they are breaking the law by even being in without the required visa’s etc, so that they can try again and again. Theoretically several dozen fines could be issued to different drivers for the very same illegal immigrant as he gets caught over and over again and released without charge or deportation. What a disgusting state of affairs that we are abused by the powers that be in our own country.
This^^^ amongst other things is why Europe is not working! And why I can’t be arsed doing Euroland driving! Keep the foreign devils out of the UK! 
I wonder if Bogdan and his chums face the same levies per illegal as a Brit! 