Am doing an investifation for Commercial Motor.
I’ve been speaking to a driver who says he simply he cannot afford to pay a £3k fine his bosses say is his responsibility after four stowaways were found in his truck.
This begs the question who should responsibilty for UKBA penalties be with.
Here is the blog I ran so if you have any thougts or comment please do so on the following link: bit.ly/9n3Vm2
Cheers
Jo
*sorry investigation
in your blog it says the firm did not have evidence of secure preventative systems, if this is the case then in my view the firm should be held accountable for the £3000 fine as they should supply the security measures and have trained the driver sufficently in how to check for signs of the trailer and its security cords/seals/locks being tamperd with and there should be a paper trail aswell.
it saddens me that there are still international hauliers who cant/wont put in place security measures to protect themselves from fines like these instead of the driver being left to do it on his own then when the [zb] hits the fan the haulier blames the driver for it all going wrong.
yes i know the cladenstines are hard too keep out and they can be violent when you discover them and try to get them out your trailer is near impossiable but a firm spending £500 quid on on a few locks for there fridge trailers and tir cords for there curtains and a bit of training on the driver on how to check for tampering then its cheaper than £3000.
Spurs Jo Bourke:
*sorry investigation
I thought it was infestation of stowaways 
The stowaways should be fined for trespass. It has come to light that the government wanted immigration
Stick 'em on a boat / plane home and charge them for it T.S. maybe they’d learn sooner or later 
fuse:
The stowaways should be fined for trespass. It has come to light that the government wanted immigration
In light of these recent revelations regarding the Government wanting immigration surely there must be a case for imprisoning the Home Secretaries over the last 13 years for demanding money with menaces and obtaining money by deception 
Sorry I forgot that’s what Governments do anyway.
Q, Would you expect the company to be responsible for other fines eg:- Speeding, Dangerous driving etc.
A, No.
I do not agree with the fines anyway and feel that the haulier has been persecuted for the governments inability to do its job properly, and can remember getting asked for my passport by Police in Ramsgate before they had even ascertained the presence of clandestine`s in my trailer, the look on his face when I asked since when had Ramsgate docks been in another country was a picture (I was picking up an un-accompanied trailer) 