NEW FINES are to be applied to UK hauliers found to be carrying clandestine migrants or crossing the border with an unsecured vehicle.
Chris Yarsley, senior policy manager at Logistics UK commented: “The government’s plans to increase fines for those found to be carrying victims of people-smuggling gangs, from £2,000 to £10,000 per person, will not tackle the root-cause of the problem. Professional road haulage operators remain vigilant at all times, but government must acknowledge that the responsible drivers and hauliers are, themselves, the victims of the criminal people-smugglers who prey on innocent migrants.
“Urgent improvements are needed to ensure detection systems used in ports are fully effective in locating hidden individuals and more should be done to provide safe and secure passage for vehicles to the ports themselves, with more secure overnight parking and increased policing on the routes to Channel ports. Hauliers and drivers are not professionally trained immigration officers or trained security staff and should not be expected to take the fall for the failings of border operations.”
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