i just can’t get my round how wrong the system is! have you got the option of demanding a full search be made before you enter uk immigration and thus avoiding a fine?
You would think with what has happend in London in the last 2 weeks they might have somthing more than lorry drivers protecting our borders.
How many of these “illegal immigrants” are known terorists trying to enter the country covertly
It only takes one to get through to cause mayhem
I cannot use the words I want to describe how I feel about this how many peolpe have died[/b,as a result of the government working against this industry as opposed to working with it , nobody will know (unless they catch them & it comes out in interview but I suppose even then we wont be told 
) but I am willing to bet good money at least one has used this method of entry.
For gods sake Teflon get your thumb out of your ■■■■■■ and do somthing sensible about this problem
We dont want 'em on our vehicles you dont want 'em in the country let’s work together
The only answer to this situation as i see it is to do as the French do when they have a problem STRIKE.
If you refuse to cross onto the ferry untill you have a writ from the people whom searched you and from UK immigration to say you have been searched then dont get on the ferry.
Its the same as anything else in this industry, sit back and take the flak. The more you let the authorities get away with it the more they will point the blame. We all know that we do the best we can to make sure that the loads we are bringing back are safe, secure and clandestien free. But if they are sneaking on through the ferry loaders or however they choose to get on you aint gonna stop em.
So according to the current state if they CO2 ur trailor and its clear then they hold no responsibility so,CO2 you trailor yourself claim its clear and say whats good for you is good for me. At what point does your resposibility end? They dont fine pilots for bringing people who jump there visas so why do they do it to us?
I never brought one back lukily.■■■■ i used to catch em all over me truck in Morroco, if i did and was fined i would not pay it and take it to court. If that did no good in sure the human rights act would walk all over this issue.
The more drivers bend over and take this kind of treatment the more they will happily give it. Its has hapend with pay, drivers hours and many other issues we get shafted on these days.
Sounds militant but talk with your feet.
At least with our company if we have any doubt, we can go into our secure depot in Calais and have the truck emptied and searched. unfortunately this does not cure the problem as eben if the police are called if immigrants are found, they will just release them onto the street to let them try the next night or on the next truck 
If any immigrants or anyone else is caught on the ferry without a passport, the ferry company or airline do get fined!
I dont doubt that some drivers will have taken a few bob to bring a few Bob.s in to Britain, but realistically what would you do?
You drive through Calais and dont get stopped, you have done the co2 and scanner checks! When you are driving up the M20, you hear a noise in the trailer. You find there is a family of Albanians in the trailer. If you ring the police you are looking at a 2k fine each, or you let them go before they defecate over even more of your load
Wheel Nut:
When you are driving up the M20, you hear a noise in the trailer. You find there is a family of Albanians in the trailer. If you ring the police you are looking at a 2k fine each, or you let them go before they defecate over even more of your load
Not necessarily. I once ended up back in the yard in Langley with one in the side locker of the trailer. The police were called but they could take no action against me because he was not discovered in Calais or Dover, there was no proof that he was in my trailer when I entered the UK. He could have gained access to the locker in the UK and the fine is for bringing them into the country.
On several occasions other vehicles have arrived in our yard from over the water and when the trailer doors were opened people have been found inside. In all those cases the police were called but no action was taken against the driver because it could not be established where they had entered the trailer. Of course it was more likely to be Calais than Canterbury but without proof there would be no legal basis for a fine.
if you in the fta or rha ( ok i know what there like)
did you follow the recomended checks
do you have them in writeing (the checklist)
have you followed the recomended code of practice
get some good legal advice ASAP
Apart from the fines it would not be nice to accidentely kill one of these fellows, would you be up for manslaughter ? I loaded in aachen one evening for cork. Usual crack, had just done what I thought was my days work but next think I knew I was booked on the 3.30 sailing the next day in fishguard, anyway straight done to calais, had the security do the checks etc. in calais. nothing on board. got the boat, pulled in for x-ray machine in dover, found 1 on axles of trailer. Just thought if he wasn’t found my next stop would have been probably fishguard, bout 8 hours away, don’t think he could have stayed on. Would I be serving a jail sentence now for manslaughter, makes you wonder about driving at all
i’ve found them in my trailer but only when i’m outbound.
i only ever stop in calias if i’m headed out, i have on 2 occassions that i can remember stopped in calais coming in and both times i had a flat load that i could see across without having to venture further than the doors at the back.
mostly if i can’t make the uk but can make calais i will stop about an hour and a half from the port and i usually use the mons - lille road when i do this as there is less of a problem on this route.
brussels is an absolute nightmare - i never travel that route if it means me having to stop in the are of brussels - it’s either thieves or immigrants trying to get in the back or something out of the back of the trailer.
i once wrote to my mp reference the code of practice, i pointed out that the code was ok if a driver had a secure trailer ie a fridge or box trailer (hard sided) but if you have a tilt or a silder/tautliner then it’s like putting valuables into a tent for safe keeping, all anyone needs is a knife - i don’t think she fully understood what i was trying to explain because the reply i got was a copy of the damned code of practice.
with either a tilt or tautliner there is no way of knowing for sure that immigrants have not got in except by getting in yourself and inspecting the trailer - every bit of it before you start on the final leg to the boat.
i never enter the port of calais without first checking my trailer at the last stopping point and i never drive off the boat without checking it again.
as far as i have witnessed i am the only driver that does this.
i never enter the port of calais without first checking my trailer at the last stopping point and i never drive off the boat without checking it again.
as far as i have witnessed i am the only driver that does this.
I have to admit it is not something I do either, I do normally check my trailer 3 times in Cherbourg, as I have to leave the truck on a public area to book in, then fuel up before going for the cursory checks on the quayside.
I do have a code of practice agreed by the French and UK immigration, which in times of need will be worth less than used toilet paper.
The problem with the immigrants getting into a trailer and disembarking are still too easy, it seems any man without his dog can wander onto a ferry.
a mate of mine found immigrants in his trailer after using that crossing - he knows they weren’t there when he boarded because the customs at the port did a complete check inside the trailer, while he was there they only checked uk registered trucks - the french just drove straight past without being challenged.
he made the crossing and got off the other side, he was then stopped again by uk customs who found 3 men in the back of his trailer.
he hadn’t used a check sheet but had got the customs to stamp his cmr’s at the port because they had opened some of the boxes he had on.
he got away with it because of this - no fines at all but he had to wait about 3 months to find out he wasn’t being fined for it, as soon as he got back he wrote to the ferry operator who just fobbed him off and told him it was his responsibility to check his trailer before disembarkation.
Spacemonkeypg:
The only answer to this situation as i see it is to do as the French do when they have a problem STRIKE.
My idea of crossing borders is going to a drop in Suffolk, but if we were organised in this country and did have a decent union that stood up for drivers, I’d certainly ‘down tools’ and come out each and every time a driver was fined for having these people found on his vehicle.
As drivers we are in a very powerful position and could make this country think twice about mistreating us, but will we ever take advantage of this? 
df1:
Would I be serving a jail sentence now for manslaughter, makes you wonder about driving at all
is that as opposed to facing manslaughter charges from falling asleep after driving night and day?
One of our drivers arrived at the Heartbeat fingie early hours Saturday morning. He was 95% some had got on. He told the heartbeat guys who put the probes on, opened ONE door and looked inside and told him he was ok.
So he told them basically “Don’t talk absolute rubbish” and opened both doors !! There were 2 tucked right in behind the nearside door (the one they never opened). Now this driver is a nasty little sod at the best of times. He jumped up in the trailer, threw one out, jumped out behind him and kicked the bejasus out of him. The French just stood there. It turned out they had caught 15 in 25 minutes and had nowhere to put them so didn’t want anymore!!!
They held the driver in the Heartbeat booth, put the immos back in the trailer and held him there till they had some room!! Needless to say, he was going potty lolol
Interesting reading the Austin, because …
I don’t know how true it is, but upon talking to a number of European drivers many have said the French authorities are sick of them and are at a loss as to what to do with them. Rumour has it that the French authorities couldn’t give a toss whether you’ve got 100 in your trailer or none; they just want shut of them and the best thing for them is to let you take bring them over here where it no longer becomes their problem 
. One also mentioned that he’s fairly sure certain members of the French authorities take back-hander’s and actually help them into the back of your trailer when you’re not looking .
Hope it’s not true, but it wouldn’t at all surprise me. Then again it could just be another urban myth like 26 tonne of hanging meat with another 26 tonne of steel sat on the floor …
Rob K:
Interesting reading the Austin, because …I don’t know how true it is, but upon talking to a number of European drivers many have said the French authorities are sick of them and are at a loss as to what to do with them. Rumour has it that the French authorities couldn’t give a toss whether you’ve got 100 in your trailer or none; they just want shut of them and the best thing for them is to let you take bring them over here where it no longer becomes their problem
Hope it’s not true, but it wouldn’t at all surprise me. Then again it could just be another urban myth like 26 tonne of hanging meat with another 26 tonne of steel sat on the floor …
I dont think you are so far off the mark Rob, I have reported gangs of marauding immigrants running wild around Cherbourg docks and the reply is normally a Gallic shrug and “Its not our proplem Monsieur”
At least if you fill the trailer with steel and swinging beef, there is no room for anyone else 
df1:
… if he wasn’t found my next stop would have been probably fishguard, bout 8 hours away…
Just a wild 
guess, but I take it that it was an Irish Haulier you were driving for then !!!
Rob K:
…One also mentioned that he’s fairly sure certain members of the French authorities take back-hander’s …
NO WAY!!! :shock: NEVER!!! :shock: The French Authoritys such as the Duane and Gendarmes resorting to bribery and corruption, sorry,I mean,Coffee money to assisst the passage of illegal immigrants OUT of France and INTO the UK!!!
Non, C`est impossible!!
I cant believe our Gaulic cousins and close European neighbours and allies in the war against global terrorism would do such a thing to us!!!
NOT MUCH THEY WOULDNT!!!
Reply to JJ72 and bullitt,
I take it youe don’t approve of the irish hauliers routines. Well neither do I. Thats why I’ve jacked it in, was lookin for work with a UK haulier but no luck yet. On reading coffeholics diary this type of work would only be a dream over here. Breaks, daily rest what what ■■? My usual run started with a couple of collections around ireland, 2 or 2.5 hours sleep that night on boat to fishguard (note not to pembroke - get weighed there) off at 1 am, first drop in paris at approx. 2.30 pm (do the figures yourself) last drop in rungis that nite about 2 am, YES thats 25 hours after 2 hours sleep on boat. Then maybe 5 hours sleep next drop maybe liege ASAP, and by the way they are screaming for that back load from rotterdam in fifes in dublin. I’m gettin sore eyes even thinking about it.
I went to Rosslare for an interview for a firm early last year. The guy told me he had a brand new Scania 164 and trailer sat there waiting for a driver. During the interview, he asked if I was ‘flexible with the tacho’ lolol
I never got the job
Just to let everyone know…
We were in the English side in Calais and asked them to have a good look as we thought there may be illegles(?) aboard, they said if they found anyone, we would still be done for it.
Only safe if they are found in the French side.