hi Guys
A common story i know i just need to find someone else this has happened too…
On 22 July 05 whilst carrying out euro fridge work one of our vehicles got stopped by british customs in Coquelles (France) getting onto the shuttle, for a routine check as we often do, and usually get scanned to being a fridge. Only this time a rucksack containing a quantity of drugs valued at 750k was found under the trailer logged on top of the diesel tank. The driver was subsiquently arrested for Knowingly importing drugs. And the vehicle siezed and brought back to Dover, it took us six weeks to get the tractor unit back and they still have the trailer in their compound (as they need it for evidence) As the driver is also a company director and my brother when he says he knew nothing about this bag or how it got there i know this to be true. However he was released on bail and has to make the journey from Warrington to Dover to answer bail every 6 weeks. The case is now going to be heard in the crown court in canterbury in the next week and as we have heard a few stories of similar things happening on a regular basis to different drivers our solicitor has asked us to try and find someone to whom it has happened (as a referance) is this you if so could you please email or pm me with your experiences and maybe we can make the courts realise that not all drivers are bad and sometimes these little pakages get left on our vehicles without our knowledge by scumbags trying to get their stuff back to the uk without taking the chance of getting caught themselves. thanks for reading and i look forward to hearing from you.
Eddy Sorry to hear of your problems, I do hope you will be lucky in finding a driver who will come forward for your brother, however you have not given anyone much notice regarding this predicament. The Bail conditions could have been changed so that reporting could have been at your brothers local police station at given times. This often happens after the first or second signing, your solicitor could have helped on this. I do hope your team of lawyers etc have an up to date knowledge of haulage as this often helps when explaining to the courts or to jurors what goes on in our industry.
All I can say at this time is I do hope all goes well at the court and I hope the court realise that a driver would not conceale illicit substance in that manner and maybe yet again your brother has been used as a decoy for a bigger shipment going through at the same time. Drug Barons are a devious lot as we all know. Please keep us informed about the case.
Good Luck
Danneke
At least he has the luck of being tried in this country .
If the same thing had happened in France there would have been no hope at all and he would have been guaranteed a long period locked up.
Over the last year or so there have been a few cases of drivers being found guilty of smuggling drugs back into the UK and they have even admitted it. 
This of course will not help much in getting a favourable result in this case.
Pay a visit to www.justicefordrivers.org and
- sign the petition
- use the contact numbers provided within as there may be something that has been overlooked it never hurts to get a second opinion from someone not directly involved.
just to update anyone who may be interested in this case. the court case was cancelled because the customs need more time to try and find evidence (which doesnt exist) they still have to check phone records ! (8 months on and they havent checked phone records?) are they really trying to insult my inteligence, expecting us to beleive this wasnt done straight away. They have confirmed they have no fingerprints, no dna, the trailer has not been modified in any way, and all tacho charts match the journey, they also had the tacho head analised which showed it had not been tampered with. No new court date has been set they say they will ring the night before when they have 2 days free. In the meantime they still hold our trailer, laptop computer, 2 phones, the tacho head, and a whole bundle of paperwork/receipts. It has now been nearly 9 months since this all started and i am now convinced they are just stalling for time to try and bankrupt us as they have no evidence to convict at all.
eddy, did you receive my PM Jan 7th?
believe me 8 months is not long from some of the cases I have heard about and HM Customs will go into every little detail . They will probaly know every time that particular Unit went across the water
I know John was in a different country but I now beleive they all work to much the same pattern
If you would like to speak to me direct PM your phone number
Ken Vasey