# UK couple fined £1,500 after reporting Channel stowaway found in motorhome

Adrian and Joanne Fenton had called the police when they discovered the boy hiding inside a bike-rack cover.

## UK couple fined £1,500 after reporting Channel stowaway found in motorhome

Joanne Fenton, 55, said border officials in  and the UK had not inspected the bike rack or the cover before or after the crossing.

They subsequently received a fine from the  for failing to “check that no clandestine entrant was concealed” in the motorhome, which the couple said they were appealing against.

The Home Office said penalties were “designed to target negligence rather than criminality”.

Describing the moment her husband found the boy, Fenton told BBC Three Counties Radio: “As he unzips and unlocks all the covers which are really very tight, he sees two trainers.

“He then goes to have a look and sees two legs attached to it. He calls me and goes: ‘Jo – you need to phone the police. We have a stowaway.’”

She added: “I am so angry. It is so frustrating because we have done the right thing and phoned the police.”

In an email exchange to the Home Office, seen by the BBC, Adrian Fenton, 57, wrote: “At no point did I believe I would be fined by taking correct and moral action.

“This action taken by Border Force to impose a fine only encourages travellers  holidaymakers in this position not to call the police but to let the stowaway abscond.”

Joanne Fenton said she offered the boy a bottle of water, to which he said: “Thank you.”

She added he told police he was from Sudan and that he was 16 years old.

The couple were travelling in Australia over Christmas when they received an email from the Home Office which stated they failed to “check that no clandestine entrant was concealed in the vehicle”.

Joanne Fenton contested that technically the boy was clinging to the outside rather than aboard the motorhome.



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