Ferry companies will face fines if they do not take enough steps to prevent stowaways entering the country, under plans set out by the Home Office today.

The government wants the companies to use new detection equipment, like thermal imaging and heartbeat detectors. The equipment, currently being rolled out to Belgian ports, has already helped to prevent 4,000 would-be illegal immigrants from France reaching the UK in the first six months of this year.

The current system means that carriers can be fined £2,000 if they unknowingly bring a stowaway into the UK without having made enough checks. Under the new Home Office plans, ferry companies will have to make full use of the new technology.

Home Office Minister Beverley Hughes said that businesses that profit from operating cross-channel routes also have a responsibility for making sure that their services are not used as illegal routes to the UK.

“This means co-operating with the government to make full use of the technology we are providing.”

She also said that the government aims to expand the use of this technology to secure the whole of the north European coastline – “progressively moving the UK's borders abroad to prevent people reaching the UK clandestinely in the backs of lorries".

The government meets the cost of providing and maintaining the equipment, while ferry companies meet the running costs. It is now consulting on the planned changes to carrier liability charges.

(MB)