A couple has been fined £1,500 after discovering a Channel crossing migrant had clung to the back of their motorhome.
Adrian and Joanne Fenton called Essex Police after finding the migrant zipped inside the cover of a bike rack at their home in October.
They then received a shocking penalty from the Home Office for failing to “check that no clandestine entrant was concealed” in the vehicle.
According to the Home Office, fines were “designed to target negligence rather than criminality”.
The pair had been on holiday in France with friends, returning to the UK on a ferry
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Adrian Fenton hit out at this move, claiming this action would only encourage travellers finding themselves in a similar position to let the stowaway escape and not call the police.
“At no point did I believe I would be fined by taking correct and moral action,” he said in an email to the Home Office.
The pair had been on holiday in France with friends, returning to the UK on a ferry.
Joanne Fenton claims border officials in Calais and the UK had not inspected the bike rack or the cover before or after crossing.
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Speaking to the BBC, the 55-year-old said they discovered the migrant when her husband unzipped their “really tight” bike rack cover.
“He sees two trainers… goes to have a look, and there’s two legs attached to it,” she recounted.
“He’s gone ‘Jo, you need to phone the police. We’ve got a stowaway.'”
Fenton said she offered the man a bottle of water to which he replied “thank you”.
According to the Home Office, fines were “designed to target negligence rather than criminality”
PA
The migrant reportedly told police he was 16-year-old and from Sudan.
The couple are now drafting an appeal to the fine, contesting the claim they failed to “check that no clandestine entrant was concealed in the vehicle”.
Joanne Fenton said technically the migrant was clinging to the outside, and was not inside the home.
The email they received also said the “entrant” was found by an authorised search officer, despite the couple having called the police the night they found him.
Local MP Maldon Conservative Sir John Whittingdale has written to Border Security Minister Dame Angela Eagle, urging to review their concerns.
