Couple hit with £1,500 fine after migrant clung to the back of their motorhome to enter UK
10 March 2025, 11:57
A couple has been handed a £1,500 fine after discovering a migrant had clung to the back of their motorhome as they crossed the Channel.
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Adrian and Joanne Fenton alerted Essex Police after finding the 16-year-old migrant hidden inside the cover of a bike rack at their home last year.
Despite contacting police, the couple were handed a shocking £1,500 fine from the Home Office and accused of failing to "check that no clandestine entrant was concealed" in the vehicle.
The Home Office insisted the fine is “designed to target negligence rather than criminality.”
Read more: Foreign criminals could be 'made to wear electronic tags' as they await deportation
Taking to Facebook, Ms Fenton fumed: “Really not happy 🤬after finding an illegal immigrant on the back of our motor home in October and calling the police straight away we have now just been fined £1500 by boarder force, we are looking into fighting this , but if any one knows anything about the legal system and can give any advice please do 🙏x”
In an Email to the Home Office, Mr Fenton wrote: “At no point did I believe I would be fined by taking correct and moral action.”
The couple had been holidaying in France before returning to the UK on a ferry.
They claim the French border force failed to inspect the bike rack where the 16-year-old Sudanese migrant hid.
Speaking to the BBC, Ms Fenton looked back on the moment her husband found the teenage migrant.
"He sees two trainers... goes to have a look, and there's two legs attached to it," she said.
"He's gone 'Jo, you need to phone the police. We've got a stowaway.'"
Ms Fenton said they then offered the teenager a bottle of water to which he replied “thank you.”
Local MP Maldon Conservative Sir John Whittingdale has written to Border Force, calling on them to reevaluate the decision
