Home Office cancels cyclists' £1,500 fine over migrant found inside bike rack

A couple from Essex who were fined £1,500 by the Home Office — after reporting a migrant who they found hidden in a bike rack on the rear of their motorhome when they got home from a holiday in France — have had their fine cancelled.

The story was widely reported in the press last week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also telling Parliament the Home Office would look into the case after it was raised in the House of Commons by Conservative MP Sir John Whittingdale.

Now, Adrian and Joanne Fenton have been told the £1,500 fine has been cancelled in an email from Border Force, which is part of the Home Office. The government department had informed the pair they would be fined for "failing to check that no clandestine entrant was concealed" in the vehicle as they crossed the English Channel via the tunnel last October.

"We don't want anyone else to go through what we've gone through," Mr Fenton told the BBC. "If someone does call the police because they've got someone discovered in their motorhome, Border Force shouldn't even be considering fining them because everyone's doing the moral and the right thing."

Mrs Fenton also told the BBC they will avoid using the cover on the bike rack for future trips in the motorhome.

The couple were returning to the UK following a holiday in France when they caught the ferry from Calais and drove back to their home in Essex, arriving at 10:15pm on the 15th October 2024. However, when unzipping the bike rack that was on the rear of their vehicle they discovered that a Sudanese migrant, who later told police he was 16, had climbed into the bicycle storage unit and clung to their vehicle for the duration of the six-hour journey.

They reported it to the police who removed the man from the bike rack but were later informed of the Home Office's intention to fine them, something Mr Fenton said would "only encourage travellers in this position not to call the police but to let the stowaway abscond".

They explained that the cover had not been inspected by border agents in Calais or on arrival in the UK.

Mrs Fenton explained how her husband unzipped the cover to the rack and noticed two trainers. "He's gone 'Jo, you need to phone the police. We've got a stowaway," she recalled, before explaining how she offered the man water and he replied, "Thank you."

Video footage showed police assisting the man from the rear bike rack before sitting him down on the floor of the Fentons' garage. The Home Office also claimed that the "entrant" was discovered by an authorised search officer, that despite the police having been called by the couple, alerting the authorities to the situation.

The Home Office said the penalties are "designed to target negligence rather than criminality", but the fine has now been cancelled, leaving the Fentons "ecstatic".