An Essex couple who discovered a migrant hidden in their motorhome after returning from France have been fined £1,500 by the Home Office for failing to detect the stowaway.
Adrian and Joanne Fenton said they alerted police after finding a person zipped inside the bike rack cover at their home in Heybridge, Essex, in October.
The Home Office later issued the fine, stating the couple failed to “check that no clandestine entrant was concealed” in the vehicle. The pair said they are preparing an appeal against the penalty.
The Home Office defended the fine, saying the penalties were “designed to target negligence rather than criminality”.
“At no point did I believe I would be fined by taking correct and moral action,” said Mr Fenton, writing in an email exchange to the Home Office, seen by the BBC. “This action taken by Border Force to impose a fine only encourages travellers [or] holidaymakers in this position not to call the police but to let the stowaway abscond.”
Speaking on the JVS Show on BBC Three Counties Radio, Mrs Fenton explained that the couple had travelled in France with friends and returned to the UK via ferry on 15 October. The 55-year-old said border officials in Calais and the UK had not inspected the bike rack or its cover during the crossing.
Her husband, a 57-year-old retired firefighter, had driven the six-hour journey before they reached their home at 22:15 BST. Mrs Fenton said when her husband unzipped the “really tight” cover used for their bicycles, he discovered someone hiding inside.
“He sees two trainers… goes to have a look, and there’s two legs attached to it,” she recalled. “He’s gone ‘Jo, you need to phone the police. We’ve got a stowaway.’”
She added that she offered the young man a bottle of water, to which he replied “thank you”. The individual told police he was from Sudan and 16 years old.
The couple said they were in Australia over Christmas when they received an email from the Home Office detailing the offence and fine. The message stated they had failed to “check that no clandestine entrant was concealed in the vehicle”, but Mrs Fenton argued the individual was technically on the outside of the motorhome rather than inside.
The email also stated that the entrant was discovered by an authorised search officer, although the Fentons said it was they who contacted the police upon making the discovery.
The fine was issued under asylum and immigration legislation. Their local MP, Maldon Conservative Sir John Whittingdale, has written to the Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle, urging a review of the case.
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