Fine cancelled for Essex couple who found migrant on motorhome

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Martin Heath

BBC News, Essex

BBC Mr Fenton with short dark hair wearing a grey anorak with white hood standing next to Mrs Fenton, who has long blond hair, wearing a dark-coloured anorak. She is smiling. They are in a square in Poland - a historic building is visible in the background.BBC

The couple were originally fined £1,500

A couple who were fined £1,500 after they reported a migrant had clung to a bike rack on their motorhome have been told the penalty has been cancelled.

The Home Office had ordered Adrian and Joanne Fenton, from Heybridge in Essex, to pay the fine for “failing to check that no clandestine entrant was concealed” in the vehicle as they crossed the English Channel.

Mr Fenton said Border Force had now told him it had taken his objection to liability into consideration and reduced the fine to £0.

The couple originally highlighted the case on BBC Three Counties Radio, and Mrs Fenton said she was “ecstatic” about the Home Office’s change of heart.

Steve Hubbard/BBC Adrian Fenton with short dark hair and slight beard wearing a black gilet and lifting a dark cover on the back of a motorhome. The cover has a grey and orange patch in the centre. The motorhome is in a domestic driveway with a hedge to the left and right.Steve Hubbard/BBC

The couple say the stowaway was found under a bicycle rack cover

Mr Fenton, 57, had boarded Le Shuttle from Calais to Folkestone in Kent on the evening of 15 October, after they had been travelling around France.

Mrs Fenton, 55, told the JVS show on BBC Three Counties Radio that, after a six-hour drive, her husband had unzipped the cover of the bicycle rack and found the migrant inside.

Joanne Fenton Inside of a domestic brick-built garage. A figure is seen sitting on the floor - the face has been blurred - wearing a white and grey top and grey jeans with black socks. A man dressed in dark clothing with a truncheon attacked to his belt is standing next to the man on the floor. Another man wearing dark clothing is looking on.Joanne Fenton

Mrs Fenton said the migrant told police he was 16 and from Sudan

The couple said they called the police to tell them they had found the stowaway.

Mrs Fenton said the boy later informed the police he was 16 years old and from Sudan.

They then received an email saying they were being fined.

Mrs Fenton argued that the man had been clinging to the outside of the motorhome rather than being inside it.

Mr Felton said he had thought he had done the right thing by calling the police.

The couple have now received an email from Border Force, which is part of the Home Office, reducing the fine to £0.

Mrs Fenton said: “It’s about motorhomes and caravaners coming through the borders – how many more people are going to get caught out exactly the same?”

Steve Hubbard/BBC

Joanne Fenton said they would still be travelling abroad, but would not put a cover on their bike rack

Her husband added: “We don’t want anyone else to go through what we’ve gone through.

“If someone does call the police because they’ve got someone discovered in their motorhome, Border Force shouldn’t even be considering fining them because everyone’s doing the moral and the right thing.”

He said the Home Office should “be looking at their policy and make sure that it’s fit for purpose and not targeting holidaymakers”.

Mrs Fenton said the couple would still take their motorhome abroad but would be “ultra careful – there’ll be no covers over the bike rack”.

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