Shropshire Star

'I won't pay £10,000 fine': Telford lorry driver in stowaway migrants case

A lorry driver from Shropshire who is facing the possibility of a £10,000 bill after five illegal immigrants were discovered hidden in his lorry in Calais today vowed not to pay the fine.

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Jim Rushton, from Telford, said he had completed all the required checks and had even gone through a Government electronic probe designed to detect immigrants before the stowaways were found just as he was about to board the boat.

Mr Rushton, from Tweedale, has enlisted the help of Telford MP Lucy Allan who has pledged to write to the Home Secretary to highlight his plight.

But the 61-year-old, who works for BJ Waters Transport, said if he was fined he would refuse to pay it.

"When we finally get into Calais, we go through what is called the heartbeat monitor where they put probes on your trailer and this is supposed to detect illegal immigrants.

"But in my case that day, they weren't detected until I got in the actual shipping lanes ready to board the boat.

"I was absolutely gobsmacked because when the lady with the dog come over to me and said 'would you mind rolling your sheet back because we think there is immigrants in'.I said 'no problem, I have got nothing to worry about'.

"When I rolled my sheet back and I saw them, I could have fell off my trailer, I was that shocked.

"Me and the wife have both discussed it and I am not going to pay it. Why should I pay something, when I have done literally every physical thing possible to deter them?

"I'm 61 years old, if I would have confronted them at 4.45am in the morning when I first checked my load, what chance have I got against five of them?

"The majority of them are tooled up, they are carrying knives so what chance has an individual driver got, to protect himself?"

The driver is also being backed by Shropshire MEP Jill Seymour, who is Ukip's transport spokeswoman in Brussels.

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