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UK Border Agency vows more checks
Page 7
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THE UK BORDER Agency is set to make freight checks more frequent and thorough following a £15m investment to crack down on stowaways.
Under the £15m announcement made by border and immigration minister Phil Woolas, the technology will be piloted in Calais before being rolled out into ports in Boulogne, Coquettes and Dunkirk.
From August, under Royal Ascent, both customs officers and im
migration officers will have conferred powers, meaning they can carry out each other's jobs.
Truckers will have an increased chance of getting stopped and searched, Brodie Clark, head of the UKBA (pictured) tells CM.
"Hauliers have a sensible part to play in these checks, so just making sure your vehicle is secured at all times and doing checks every time you stop is going to speed up your journey by making it safer," Clark adds.
Last year the UKBA collected more than £1.5m in fines from HEW drivers and hauliers caught carrying stowaways into Britain, who are each liable for a maximum £2,000 fine per clandestine discovered.
Under the UKBA's accreditation scheme, if a lirm demonstrates that it has an effective system in place to prevent it carrying clandestine entrants the company will not be fined if it is in compliance with the scheme. Peter Cullen. head of international affairs at the Road Haulage Association (RHA) says: "It can be a good choice for small operators because the weight of a potential fine could be hard to endure.
"If you are an owner driver you could be fined as a driver and as an operator, so the scheme could be worthwhile to remove the risk of being penalised heavily."