Holidaying couple fined after finding a migrant on their motorhome
By FRANKIE ELLIOTT
Published: 10:39 GMT, 10 March 2025 | Updated: 14:15 GMT, 10 March 2025
It would have been the last thing Adrian and Joanne Fenton were expecting to find when unpacking their motorhome after a long drive from France.
After arriving home in Heybridge, Essex, late on October 15, Mr Fenton started to unload their stuff, and began with the bikes attached to the back of the vehicle.
But as he unzipped the cover of the bike rack, the retired firefighter was shocked to discover a Sudanese man inside the bag, clinging onto the motorhome.
'He goes to take the bikes off and as he unzips and unlocks the cover, which is really tight, he sees two trainers and suddenly he thinks to himself "I haven't left any trainers on here" and then he sees there are two legs attached to it,' Ms Fenton said.
'He then called me, and I was at the front unloading and said, "Joanne you need to call the police, we have a stowaway"'.
After police arrived and took the migrant away, the Fentons were interviewed by officers and thought that this would be the end to the story.
But just over two months later, the pair were left furious after the Home Office issued them with a £1,500 fine for failing to 'check that no clandestine entrant was concealed' in the motorhome.
Mrs Fenton labelled the fine as 'exceptionally unfair', telling The JVS show on BBC Three Counties Radio: 'I'm so angry and it's so frustrating because we have done the right thing.