A couple ordered to pay £1,500 by the Home Office when they reported a migrant clinging to the back of their motorhome after returning from France have won their battle to overturn the fine.
Adrian and Joanne Fenton were astonished to find a Sudanese man inside the rain cover of their bike rack when they arrived back at their Essex home following a long drive back from Calais.
The public-spirited couple immediately called police, who took the man away for processing.
Yet just over two months later, the pair were issued with a £1,500 fine by the Home Office for failing to ‘check that no clandestine entrant was concealed’ in the camper van.
Amid widespread astonishment at their punishment, on Wednesday Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was ‘concerned’ about this case, and it was ‘important’ that it was looked into.
Now after giving the Daily Mail a full account of their incredulity at the unfairness of the punishment, Mr Fenton today revealed the Home Office had waived the fine – although it hasn’t cancelled the penalty.
‘We’re obviously both really pleased that the fine is being rescinded and very grateful for all the public support we’ve had,’ Mr Fenton told MailOnline today.
‘But we still believe the law should be changed so innocent holidaymakers like us don’t get caught up in the same trap as we did and fined.’
Joanne and Adrian Fenton were ordered to pay £1,500 by the Home Office when they reported a migrant clinging to the back of their motorhome after returning from France
The couple have now won their battle to overturn the £1,500 fine from the Home Office
The pair found a Sudanese man inside their mobile home and reported him to police
Its cancellation comes after Mr Fenton appealed to Border Force by making a ‘notice of objection’ detailing why he believed the penalty was unfair.
The letter they received states: ‘The written notice of objection has been carefully considered and the Secretary of State has decided that your liability stands.
‘However, after review of the case by a senior officer the level of penalty per clandestine entrant or person concealed being a clandestine entrant has been revised to UK £0.’
Mr Fenton said he believed the public pressure over the past week had played a part in their success in quashing the fine – in addition to the grounds he cited in his detailed appeal.
But he added: ‘The public awareness of our case means other campervanners in our scenario might worry that they shouldn’t call the police in case they get fined like we did.
‘If the Home Office and Border Force want to send a message to tourists who find a migrant hiding in their vehicle that calling the police is the right thing to do then the rules need to be changed.’
The couple bought the campervan after Mr Fenton retired following a 28-year career with the London Fire Brigade which saw him rise to become assistant deputy chief commissioner.
The cancellation of their fine comes after Mr Fenton appealed to Border Force by making a ‘notice of objection’ detailing why he believed the penalty was unfair
They said they first noticed the migrant when they spotted ‘two white trainers’
Having spotted the Sudanese migrant, Mr Fenton immediately shouted at his wife to call the police, saying he was ‘thinking of the guy’s welfare, and of our safety’
On the night of the Grenfell fire which claimed 72 lives 2017, he was the man at the helm in the control room – the most senior officer on duty – and was later diagnosed with PTSD.
The couple made the shocking discovery after returning to their home in Heybridge, Essex, on October 15 last year after a four-day trip to the Champagne region of France – their first journey abroad in the vehicle.
The Fentons believe the man zipped his way inside the bike carrier after they stopped at a French supermarket before getting onto the shuttle ferry to come back home.
Mr Fenton, 55, told the Daily Mail how they were unpacking after the trip when he unzipped the cover and spotted ‘two white trainers’ with ‘legs attached to them’.
Realising there was a stowaway ‘contorted’ around their bikes he immediately shouted at his wife to call the police, saying he was ‘thinking of the guy’s welfare, and of our safety’.
‘I didn’t know whether he was on drugs, whether he had a weapon. This was our home.
‘We were literally up the driveway, with the garage doors open, offering access to our house.
‘I established he was OK. Jo brought him a bottle of water then some fruit.’
The man, who claimed he was 16, was stowed in a bag covering a bike rack
Pictured: The bike rack on the back of the motorhome, which they bought after Mr Fenton retired following a 28-year career with the London Fire Brigade
Instead of being thanked by the authorities for their civic mindedness, the Fentons were contacted by the Home Office last month, and told they were going to be fined £1,500
When police arrived to process the stowaway, Mr Fenton followed his training as a first responder to video what followed ‘purely for evidential reasons’ – footage which helped the encounter go viral.
Although the officers at the scene treated the couple as the victims of crime – right down to establishing a crime incident number should they need to make a claim about damage to property – things took a ludicrous turn.
Instead of being thanked by the authorities for their civic mindedness, the Fentons were contacted by the Home Office last month, and told they were going to be fined £1,500.
Citing asylum and immigration legislation – legislation introduced in 2023 that the Fentons knew applied to lorry drivers, but had no idea was relevant to them – they were told it had been their responsibility to ‘check that no clandestine entrant was concealed’ in their vehicle.
Describing his astonishment at the penalty, Mr Fenton told Saturday’s Daily Mail: ‘We were negligent? Seriously?!
‘Most other campervanners and caravanners we’ve spoken to have no idea about this law.
‘This migrant wasn’t inside our vehicle, which was alarmed up to the hilt. He was clinging to the bike rack outside it.
‘And the border patrol people – the professionals – had walked round the vehicle doing their own checks before we got on the ferry.
The couple were left fearing the bizarre and unfair outcome would prevent people from ‘doing the right thing’ if they found themselves in a similar situation.
‘No-one has said they were negligent. The whole thing is mad.’
Warning that fining holidaymakers for innocently being exploited by desperate migrants was counter-productive, Mr Fenton told Mail Online last week: ‘I’m an upstanding citizen and I do believe in doing things the right way.
‘It seems to me that calling the police is the right thing to do.
‘However, if you’re going to be fined, do you know how that looks to every other caravan or motorhome or holidaymaker across the country? Are they going to call the police? Probably not now.
‘We’ve been encouraged that if you call the authorities and do the right thing, you’re going to be fine.’
The couple – who have three children and three grandchildren – were left fearing the bizarre and unfair outcome would prevent people from ‘doing the right thing’ if they found themselves in a similar situation.
‘I’m so angry and it’s so frustrating because we have done the right thing,’ Mrs Fenton told BBC Three Counties Radio last week.
‘How safe is it for the everyday holidaymaker to get out of their vehicle, whether they are towing a caravan, whether driving a van, whether driving a motor home?
‘How safe is it for us to keep getting out and checking that they are not grabbing underneath? It’s impossible.’
‘It’s the legit people like my husband and I that are coming through and have done the right thing that are getting fined for it.
‘Where is the justification in that?’
Last week the Home Office said penalties – which can be up to a maximum of £10,000 – were ‘designed to target negligence rather than criminality’ and stressed that contacting the authorities is a ‘huge mitigating factor’ in how people are dealt with in these cases.
A spokesperson said: ‘Responsible persons who have fully complied with the actions laid out in the carriers liability amendment regulations of 2023 will receive a reduced penalty. The scheme is designed to target negligence, rather than criminality.
‘We would expect drivers who are actively involved in people smuggling to be investigated and prosecuted in the courts.
‘Increased fines, new maximum penalty levels and a new penalty for failing to adequately secure a goods vehicle came into force on February 13, 2023, to prevent dangerous and illegal journeys to the UK.’
It was approached for comment on the rescinding of the Fentons’ fine.
