An antiques dealer familiar to millions on TV and her husband were fined £3,000 after contacting British police to report a migrant who had snuck into their van in France.
Mother-of-two Jane Cave, 56, who features on the BBC’s The Bidding Room, and her husband Ed Masters had been on a trip to buy antiques when they passed through customs in Calais.
They were heading through Suffolk on their way home to Norfolk when they heard noises in the back of their van and found a ‘dark, shortish [man] carrying a mobile phone’.
They immediately reported what had happened to Suffolk Police and the man was apprehended.
But they later received a letter from UK Border Force saying they were being fined for unknowingly smuggling a migrant into the country after they failed to properly secure their vehicle.
An antiques dealer familiar to millions on TV and her husband were fined £3,000 after contacting British police to report a migrant who had snuck into their van in France
Antique dealer Jane Cave who features on show The Bidding Room, and husband Ed Masters
‘We all thought we had done the right thing in calling the British police and making them aware of the situation. Little did I know the aftermath of this,’ Mr Masters, 54, told the Daily Telegraph, adding the experience had made him feel like a criminal.
The couple were returning home from France on November 23 last year when they were held up at customs in Calais.
They stopped at a supermarket to complete paperwork in their van for importing antique furniture and other objects under post-Brexit rules.
Mr Masters was completing paperwork in his unlocked van for the crossing when he heard a noise and saw someone attempting to climb in the back.
‘I shouted ‘Get out’ which he duly did and ambled towards the rest of the car park,’ he said.
They then continued on towards customs where the vehicle was pulled over and checked by a French border officer at passport control before it was allowed through.
The couple were returning home from France on November 23 last year when they were held up at customs in Calais
Mrs Cave slammed the fine as ‘atrocious’ and said: ‘We all went into the supermarket and then Ed got an email and went back to the van to answer it on my iPad’
The crossing went uneventfully and they were heading home on the dual carriageway A11 near Barton Mills when they heard a racket in the back and found their stowaway when they pulled over.
The migrant leapt out and hid behind a petrol station before he was caught minutes later when police arrived following a 999 call.
‘That should have been done thoroughly at the border in Calais,’ Mr Masters said.
After receiving the fine notification, he checked with the authorities and was told he should have informed border staff in Calais about the initial attempt to get into his van.
Mrs Cave slammed the fine as ‘atrocious’ and said: ‘We all went into the supermarket and then Ed got an email and went back to the van to answer it on my iPad.
‘The back was unlocked while he was sitting in the front and he suddenly saw in the mirror that someone’s leg was hanging out of the back and he realised they were trying to get in.
‘Ed jumped out to get this guy out and he went off. Ed just didn’t realise that anyone else was in there.
‘When we got to the Eurotunnel terminal, we got pulled over by French customs who opened up the van and peered in, before waving us through.
‘We arrived back in the UK and drove for a couple of hours before we slowed down on the A11 in a queue of traffic before the roundabout at Barton Mills.
‘While we were nearly at a standstill, we heard this knocking and rapping from the back as if someone was asking to get out.
‘As we were stopped in the traffic, we saw people videoing us from the cars which were nearly stationary around us. They were obviously filming this guy jumping out.
Large groups of migrants who were picked up in the English Channel by Border Force last week
‘I saw him run off towards a garage. He was black and had a hoody on and looked like he was aged about 16.
‘Ed dialled 999 and the police told us to pull over, so we stopped at a McDonalds and a garage on the other side of the roundabout.
‘One police officer came along and he was fine. Ed explained what had happened and this officer spent a couple of minutes checking over our van to make sure nobody else was in there.
‘It looked like the migrant had been hiding under a large shoe rack. But he had respected what was in the van and had not damaged anything.
‘The only thing he left in there was a comb. He was caught almost immediately by the police. All we were told by the police was that he was quite young.
‘The cop spent a couple of hours talking to Ed and then we continued our journey home.’
Mrs Cave said she heard nothing more until her husband got the letter around three months ago saying he was being fined £3,000 for inadvertently bringing in a migrant.
She said: ‘My first reaction was ‘Why?’ because we had not done anything wrong. We would not have called the police if we had known this was going to happen.
Migrants head to the processing station after being picked up by Border Force in the English Channel this week
The PM’s plan involves creating a new Border Security Command, bringing together existing immigration units given new ‘counter-terrorism style’ powers (File image)
‘My advice now would be for anyone in the same situation to just let the migrant go off in a layby and not report it.’
She said that it was her husband who was being fined as he was the driver of the van but she and her business partner were paying the fine as it was a trip for their work.
Mrs Cave said Border Force had agreed to receive payment at the rate of £100 a month for now but had stated that all the money was due within two years.
‘We can’t afford £3,000. I think it’s atrocious. We have done the right thing and have been honest, but we are being punished for it,’ she added.
Tourists and commercial drivers are at risk of being fined if they fail to adequately secure their vehicles, under the rules of the Government’s civil penalty scheme.
The Home Office said the scheme ‘aims to ensure drivers are taking every reasonable step to deter irregular migration and disrupt people smugglers’.
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