After completing our review of the Modern Slavery Act, which the government asked us to undertake, Maria Miller MP, Baroness Butler-Sloss and I have gone on to conduct an inquiry into trafficking for sexual exploitation. As part of our evidence-gathering sessions, we heard from representatives from immigration enforcement and Border Force teams. What they told us was shocking and leads me to believe that our country risks cases like the awful tragedy of the lorry found in Essex being far from unique (Police work to identify 39 people found dead in lorry, 24 October).
While advance passenger information is available for those who enter the country by plane, allowing some time for security checks and potential victims of human trafficking to be identified, no such data exists for those who come in by car or lorry. The only checks that are done happen when someone leaves the UK, not when they arrive, but since it only takes 45 minutes on the Eurotunnel to reach France, we heard that people flagged as suspects or victims are well inside mainland Europe before the information has even travelled from Border Force to the border police.
Unlike with air travel, someone can just “turn up and go” – there is no necessary delay between buying a ticket and departure and, most importantly, one does not have to list one’s passengers. There is no legal requirement even to provide the names of passengers on a Eurotunnel booking, and only about 40% do so.
Of course the criminals know this. But what was most appalling was that the government do too. A ministerial oversight group was made fully aware of the risks on a visit to eight different ports, but there has been absolutely no follow-up. Maria, Elizabeth and I even requested a meeting to discuss our findings with the home secretary. We had no response. We were told that “fluidity” at the border was the ultimate priority. The lives of victims of human trafficking should be uppermost in the government’s mind.
Frank Field MP
Independent, Birkenhead
• We were thankful to read and hear reports that the authorities investigating the awful discovery of 39 dead people in a lorry trailer were dealing with the dead with the utmost respect and dignity. One would hope for no other response.
The contrast in the message going out from the country to the world – and to other would-be refugees, migrants and trafficked people – is stark. Arrive in the UK alive and you are likely be treated with hostility and suspicion under government policy. Arrive dead and you will be treated humanely and with respect.
Mary and Ted Pawley
Milton Keynes
• As a fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, I’d suggest that all shipping containers and lorry trailers should be required to have a mechanism for anyone trapped inside to be able to either exit or at the very least raise an alarm and secure fresh air. If a full opening of the rear doors is not practical, a separate porthole-type opening that is normally shut tight from the inside but can be opened in an emergency to allow air to enter would be easy to install on existing and new trailers/containers. An alarm bell operated from inside is another option. There have been too many deaths of people trapped in locked containers to do nothing positive. It is surely time for an engineered solution before more people die needlessly.
David Walden
Taunton, Somerset
• Demand that every van or lorry driver opens doors at entry point to allow an officer with a portable heat-seeking device to enter and inspect. One minute per vehicle, that’s all.
Rupert Stringer
Horley, Surrey
