A Northampton haulage firm embroiled in a row with the Home Office over stowaway fines imposed on it said it had successfully appealed a £30,000 penalty.

EM Rogers Transport said the driver had also had his fine reduced from £36,000 to £1,332 after it sought legal advice to challenge the sky-high penalties.

The company said it was now in the process of appealing a second case.

The civil penalty scheme was overhauled last year so that anyone found to be carrying an illegal migrant now faces a fine of up to £10,000 for each clandestine entrant.

The haulier and the driver were originally ordered to pay £66,000 in March after six stowaways were discovered in its vehicle by Border Force officers.

Haulage boss Ed Rogers said the illegal immigrants broke into the HGV eight hours from Calais port.

At the time he said it was unclear how they managed to get inside the vehicle and that the security measures it takes went above and beyond what is required by Border Force.

Rogers took legal advice and appealed the penalty and he said he has now received an email from the Home Office saying it had reduced the fine to zero – with no explanation.

“We are pleased, obviously, because we felt at the time it was outlandish and pretty outrageous,” he said.

“But off the back of that, we still had to get a lawyer in place; it’s also costly and a worry and causes completely unnecessary concern for us and the driver.”

The director added that the situation in France remained serious and its lorries were daily targets for desperate immigrants attempting to cross the Channel.

“It’s like having a robber stood outside our house every single day trying to break in,” he said.

“Our trucks are going through that area on a daily basis.

“We have reiterated to drivers how important it all is to fill out forms, do the checks and if stopped you hand all the paperwork in to Border Force.

“We continue to be vigilant and continue to check every vehicle.”

Rogers was also critical of comments made by a Home Office spokesman in March, when he described stowaway penalties as “a long-standing problem” at the haulage firm.

“It’s pretty poor for Border Force to say that,” he said.

“Our drivers have been doing this for 30 years, therefore we are going to have had a history. We do thousands of crossings a year so there will be more opportunities for someone to break into one of our trailers.

“We are not doing this job to do anything untoward.”

The Home Office said that following the haulier’s appeal a review had taken place which showed the company had full compliance with the regulations. As such, it reduced the penalty to zero.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are fully committed to stopping people from illegally entering the country and cracking down on people smugglers.

“The Clandestine Entrant Civil Penalty Scheme aims to ensure drivers are taking every reasonable step to deter irregular migration and disrupt people smugglers.”

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