Jane Cave, a familiar face to fans of the BBC series The Bidding Room, and her husband have been fined after a migrant snuck into their vehicle at the French border.
Cave’s husband Ed Masters spotted the young man in the vehicle after returning to the UK from a business trip to France.
Masters informed Suffolk Police after discovering the man but was told he was responsible for the incident after failing to secure his vehicle properly.
Cave and Masters had reportedly been held in long delays in Calais when the migrant attempted to board their vehicle.
Masters claims he spotted the man attempting to get inside the vehicle while completing paperwork and was able to shoo him away at first.
Masters said, according to the Telegraph: “I shouted, ‘Get out,’ which he duly did and ambled towards the rest of the car park.”
BBC The Bidding Room’s Jane Cave (second from left) reported the migrant to police
BBC
The van was inspected at passport control before then making its way back to the UK.
However, as the couple continued their journey home, they heard noises coming from the back of the van.
Cave called the police after they’d made it all the way to Suffolk while Masters investigated the noise.
A young man was hiding inside and is believed to have leaped from the vehicle before making his escape while they were parked on the A11.
BBC The Bidding Room: Nigel Havers presents the BBC show
BBC
Police arrived at the scene and caught the migrant who was quickly transported to temporary accommodation.
Their van was inspected for two hours, Masters and Cave have claimed, and despite reporting the incident, UK Border Force fined them £3,000 for unknowingly smuggling a migrant into the country.
Cave and Masters have insisted they took every precaution they could during the trip and slammed the decision by the UK Border Force to implement a fine.
Masters said: “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 of the aftermath of all this
“If I had just dropped him in a lay-by and not notified them, we would be £3,000 better off. Utter madness.”
GB News has contacted Suffolk Constabulary for comment while a Home Office spokesman told the Telegraph: “We are fully committed to stopping people from illegally entering the country and cracking down on people smugglers.
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“The Clandestine Entrant Civil Penalty Scheme aims to ensure drivers are taking every reasonable step to deter irregular migration and disrupt people smugglers.”
Since the incident, Masters has been detained four times at different airports and has claimed he’s been made to feel like a criminal following the ordeal.