Support for Paul Watson
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PAUL WATSON. the innocent driver from Morley (Leeds) is still languishing in the French prison Maison d'Arrat de Justice at Arras in the Pas de Calais without any charges laid against him, after having illegal substances found in a sealed pallet out of a load he had taken on 'trust'.
This is the worst nightmare for any international driver — and I know from personal experience, having picked something up in France or Spain. how your stomach turns over if you are stopped by Customs, even in this country, in case they find something you don't know about.
It's all very well, people saying you ought to check everything, but neither the driver nor the contractor can just start breaking open and stripping down pallets — you'd soon be out of work.
I have exchanged letters with Mr Watson and feel sure he is just an ordinary person trying to make an honest living who has been misled by others, who now seem to have disappeared leaving him in the lurch.
The French legal system which allows someone to be locked up like this is very bad, and! understand from reading French newspapers while over there that prison conditions and overcrowding in France are much,much worse than in the UK.
So it's up to all of us to show some support and solidarity for Mr Watson.Who knows, it could by you next time.
Mr David Transports Sylvan Leeds