ST Legal Advice

ST Legal Advice Legal services for transport companies -vehicle seizures, illegal immigration, appeals, L*Z, UL*Z etc

31/05/2023

⚠️❗️Are you aware of the risks involved when crossing British borders with your vehicle? 🇬🇧 🚛

➡️ Did you know that your vehicle can be seized and sold if your company is issued penalties for breaching regulations?

The consequences of disclosing illegal immigrants in your vehicle can lead to thousands of pounds in civil penalties imposed on your company and driver. To avoid these risks, it is important to have an effective system in operation and safety rules applied. Drivers should be properly trained in vehicle and cargo protection, and the necessary paperwork should be completed to convince the Border Force that your company has acted diligently to avoid clandestine entrants.

If you are unsure whether your company's policy complies with British regulations, contact Safe Truck for a consultation or audit. Ignoring legal requirements and avoiding correspondence from the Border Force can lead to the seizure of your fleet entering British borders.

If your company is issued penalties for disclosed illegal immigrants, poor vehicle protection, lack of accreditation, or smuggling goods, your vehicle can be sold by the Crown to cover the company's debts. Safe Truck has assisted numerous transport enterprises in restoring their vehicles and effectively fighting against penalties. We have also leveraged our experience to build robust legal policies for our clients, ensuring compliance with British regulations. Our created paperwork and procedures safeguard our clients against chaos in French and British ports during border inspections.

Entries referring to breaching the law are introduced in the British border authority's registry and are kept for many years. Every incident decreases the company's credibility.
Don't let your company's reputation suffer due to legal breaches.

Contact Safe Truck today for assistance!

⚠️UK - THE PENALTIES FOR SMUGGLING IMMIGRANTS HAVE INCREASEDFrom Monday February 13, 2023, the law on civil penalties ag...
10/02/2023

⚠️UK - THE PENALTIES FOR SMUGGLING IMMIGRANTS HAVE INCREASED

From Monday February 13, 2023, the law on civil penalties against drivers and truck owners for transporting illegal immigrants will change, with additional sanctions to be imposed for not securing the vehicle properly.

Penalties to a person responsible for transporting an illegal immigrant:
🟥 The maximum penalty for the first incident will be £6,000 per person.
🟥 This amount will increase to a maximum of £10,000 for the second and each subsequent incident recorded within the last five years.
🟥 The maximum penalties per inspection in total will be £12,000 and £20,000.

Penalties to a person responsible for failing to secure the truck (driver):
🟥 The maximum penalty for the first incident will be £1,500 as well as,
🟥 £3,000 for a second incident recorded within the last five years.
🟥 The maximum penalty will be £6,000 for the third and any subsequent incident within the last five years.
🟥 The maximum penalties in total will be £3,000, £6,000 and £12,000.

Circumstances concerning the fine reduction:
🟥 A responsible person fined for transporting an illegal immigrant can expect a 50% reduction in the fine if they have complied with security regulations. A further reduction of 50% can be applied if the person participates in the civil penalty accreditation scheme.
🟥 In case of insufficient security of the lorry, the person responsible, who is not the driver and who was not present when the vehicle or semi-trailer crossed into the UK, is entitled to a 50% reduction in the fine if they have taken steps to ensure compliance with safety regulations. The driver would not be entitled to a reduction for complying with safety regulations because, if they had done so, they would have properly secured their vehicle and would not have been fined at all. A further 50% reduction can be applied if the responsible person is a member of the civil penalty accreditation scheme.

For both crimes, individuals and companies will be able to request a financial assessment to be applied in determining the fine. However, the Secretary of State is not required to apply a financial means assessment, for example, in cases where insufficient evidence has been provided to determine the financial condition of the individual or company making the request. The Secretary will be also entitled to take into account any other factors that they consider appropriate in determining the fine. They will also have the power to waive the imposition of a penalty.

Following these changes, the UK government has prepared a guide on preventing illegal entry in Albanian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Welsh.

To be downloaded from the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/clandestine-entrant-civil-penalty-scheme

11/10/2022

🇬🇧 🚛Civil Penalty Accreditation Scheme for transport companies🇬🇧

👉 WHOM IT CONCERNS❓

If you run transport company operating within international road goods haulage, and one of your regular routes leads to the UK, it is worth considering to secure the company with civil penalty accreditation scheme.

Every haulier shall keep in mind that as long as their trucks enter British borders in Calais or Dunkirk regularly it is time to introduce proper paperwork and procedures referring to security rules required by the Border Force. These can prevent your company and the drivers from imposing heavy fine (Civil Penalty). The fine for a clandestine entrant on board may cost you up to £2000 per each, so the more migrants manage to enter your vehicle the higher penalty is. It is worth keeping in mind that the penalties are imposed separately upon the carrier and driver, however carrier remains jointly and severally liable for the driver’s penalty. British authorities are currently considering to increase the amount of the penalty up to £4,000.

The fine is expected unless you can demonstrate that you had proper systems in place to prevent the migrants accessing the vehicle and that the system was working effectively at the time your vehicle was stopped. If you fail to pay your penalty you can expect your vehicle to be seized and sold or even destroyed by the UK Border Force.

In the light of the above Civil Penalty Accreditation Scheme can help transport companies to prevent from these difficulties, as they work upon implemented procedures and comply with British guidelines. In case of the incident Border Force may advise the carrier entering some amendments first, rather than impose a penalty.

👉 WHAT FOR❓

If you have ever experienced disclosure of illegal immigrants on board by the UK Border Force you probably know how unpleasant consequences come with such an incident. Clandestine entrants who seek means of transport from France to the UK are mainly adult men. Some of these men show signs of aggression towards drivers, there were also incidents with knife usage or other sharp tools. Migrants have come up with many ways to get into a vehicle and hide in a cargo. They can mask their presence by sewing or gluing canvas or customs rope which were previously cut. Sometimes they cut a padlock or seal, which makes them more noticeable. Our clients experienced situations where clandestine entrants took some actions to slow down or stop the vehicle, e.g. by dropping various objects on the road. In some of these situations several migrants took advantage to get into the vehicle within a few moments.

Immigrants who manage to get inside of the trailer tend to unpack the load, often taking some of the goods for themselves and contaminate or destroy the load. As a consequence, there occur damage or partial loss of the cargo, which influence carriers liability for damages. It is a matter of scope of insurance coverage to verify which losses can be compensated.

One of the objectives of the accreditation scheme is to implement a policy regarding vehicle and cargo security, documenting and monitoring these security means as well as entering drivers’ action plan in order to secure employees, load and vehicle.
document and supervise the application of these measures, and introduce a driver's action plan to protect the employee, vehicle and cargo.

👉 HOW❓

Obtaining accreditation requires preparation of the company on a few levels, from training drivers in the scope of securing the vehicle and legal regulations, to the development of internal company policy and equipping drivers with checklists, instructions and devices to secure the vehicle. There shall also be a plan of action in case any clandestine entrants are detected, and the company shall implement the managing system to ensure UK regulations are obeyed by the drivers and administrative staff on site. Only tight and working supervision over applying drivers and company to the UK Border Force expectations can diminish the possibility of unaware carriage of stowaways and can result in waiving the penalty imposed on the company and the driver.

In other words, when illegal immigrants are revealed in a vehicle, border authorities usually inform about the violations, enabling the improvement of the rules in force in the company, refraining from imposing a financial penalty. However, it should be noted that in the event of repeatedly occurrence of incidents involving transport of illegal immigrants Border Force may withdraw the accreditation. That is why it is so important that the implementation of the system of preventing smuggling of illegal immigrants is carried out reliably, causing a permanent change in the company’ security policy.

Our lawyers and experts in the field of international transport law can audit your company and adjust modifications to make you eligible to apply for accreditation. We can also prepare complete documentation from the scratch and apply for accreditation on your behalf. We are here to help you make the procedure as easy and smooth as possible!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us!

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