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WATCH: British couple interrogated for three hours by French Border Force after migrant found in vehicle
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Aug 5, 2025
A British couple has told GB News of their "very distressing" ordeal after finding an armed migrant stowaway inside their car at the French border.Kevin Latham and Sian Calow from Lancashire were interrogated for three hours by French Border Force and now face a £6,000 fine after unknowingly transporting the illegal migrant in their vehicle.FULL STORY HERE.
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Here is a story that you might think is very, very unusual
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and yet it would appear from official records that it's all too common
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Unbelievably, over the course of the last 18 months, £30 million worth of fines have been given out to commercial lorries and trucks
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and individuals who've been coming back from the continent who found illegal stairways on board
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This story is about a couple from Lancashire who've come down to join me in the studio
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Kev and Sian, join me today. And as I understand it, Kev, you've been touring in Europe
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Yes, that's correct. Having a jolly time. Excellent time. Good, good. With some good company
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And then you're on the way to Calais, and what happens? Right
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Well, we decided to drop off at Dunkirk first, do a bit of sightseeing there, and then into Calais
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And we realised we were running a bit short of fuel, so we thought we'd better pick up some petrol
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Yep. Pulled into this total car forecourt. Nobody there. No cars there
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We filled up. Sean went to pay. Unfortunately, I had to go
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Yep, fine, fine. And we're not joking when we say we're talking about no more than a two-minute window
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Yep. And we didn't think any more about it. And then off you go. And I thought I'd locked the car
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All right. So I hold my hands up. I thought I'd locked it. So off we drive. We get to the harbour
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We go through ticket, through passport, through British border force and then the French border force pulls us over
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I'm going, what's going on here? They ask us to get out, take us to the back of the car
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They opened up the door and there was our friend six foot of him crammed into the back of our four before There was no space for a normal human And you had no idea No idea at all Absolutely no idea So you must have been very very shocked What happens next
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Well, they removed the man from the back of the car, took him away
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Well, they searched him first. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Searched him first, yeah
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And we were taken to the Border Force offices. and we were interrogated for quite a long time
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Three hours in all. So you initially must have thought that you'd been the victims
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of a criminal attempt to come into the UK effectively. We were given the information that they were asking of us
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as if we were like victims and we're saying, you know, this is the information that's important to help in their cause
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to prevent all this. and then we find out, hold on, we're now the guilty party
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and we're faced with this ginormous fine. By the way, folks, I do not believe for a moment
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this couple were attempting to traffic anybody into the United Kingdom. Thank you for that
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No, no, no, I believe you, I do believe you. And suddenly you're facing, effectively you're now guilty of something
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Yes, it was really very, very distressing. Yeah. And after all of this, you discovered something in the back of the car
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We're going to put a picture up on the television now of what you found. A knife
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Yes. A Stanley blade. So the guy's in your car. He's got a weapon with which he could have caused you..
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A bit of grief. ...mortal harm. At what point do you get told that you've got to face a fine
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It was a week later when we got a letter from the Border Force
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notifying of our liability under the Asylum and Immigration Act 1999 1999 yep So we had to look all this up We weren aware of this legislation and the 12 checks we supposed to carry out
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every time we stop in France. What's extraordinary about this is that you're, you know
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potentially facing a six-gram fine. But as I said at the start
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£30 million worth of fines over the last 18 months. This is several thousand lorries and people
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that it's happened to. And you've got to remember, the legislation that they're talking about
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is primarily directed to commercial trucks and coach drivers. You're not expected to be directed to holidaymakers
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And there are any folks that the criminal traffickers who organise the boats across the Channel
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very rarely get caught. And the innocent folk going about their business
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face a serious fight. Something is really, really wrong. Now, I understand, Sian
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that you've, you know, not that you would have thought about it anyway
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but you've now designed an advert. I have. Which is up on the screen here
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So you've designed this yourself. I have. I really felt that there wasn't a lot of information
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or no information at the ports at all, that you should be checking your car
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and that potentially there's a fine if somebody is found to be hiding in your car
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So I thought, well, let's just lock up a... lock, check. Yeah, well, Kev didn't lock, of course
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but we're not blaming him completely. Oh, no. And this is very simple
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But then what on earth can you do unless you're constantly checking the car
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every single time you stop? So is the idea, Sian, that this sort of gets put up
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you know, as you approach Calais? Yes, it would be really useful
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when you initially book your ferry or your train to France that you have this information to hand so that it Or it at the harbours or it on the boats
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There's enough about alcohol and tobacco and not bringing fresh meat and dairy products
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's absolutely nothing about this. Given the farce, and I say farce
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of 160,000 people, nearly all young men, having crossed the English Channel in the last few years
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How do you feel about all this? Well, this is why we wanted to flag this up
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I mean, we feel really terrible about it, and we've been really trying to flag it up with an awful lot of people
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And I have to say, it's only thanks to you guys that we're getting this airplay to actually make people aware
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when they go abroad, they are liable. They've got to know about this legislation
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Otherwise, they can get caught. So it's our frustration and anger with this system
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that's buried this legislation. A final thought to you? Well, as well as this, you know
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Border Force are doing a good job in difficult circumstances. And I think if more ordinary holidaymakers were aware
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that we should be checking our cars, then, you know, we'd be giving them a hand, really
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Well, I think you're both very brave coming in publicly to talk about this
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And by the way, these folk are not on their own. This is happening to a very large number of people
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Most dare not talk about it. Frankly, most people probably feel quite ashamed of the fact
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that they've been caught in this situation. You've come out and talked about it. I hope other people who are coming back from France after their hulls
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before you get to the ferry terminal or the channel, just check and make sure no one's in the roof box or no one's in the boot
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But it says so much about the modern world that actually it's the innocent that seem to pay the price for the guilty
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