144.This section replaces, with some amendments, section 1 of the Immigration (Carriers’ Liability) Act 1987 (which is to be repealed), which relates to the carriage of inadequately documented passengers on ships, aircraft and trains; the latter by virtue of the Channel Tunnel (Carriers’ Liability) Order 1998 SI 1998/1015.
145.Subsections (1) and (2) apply where a person requiring leave to enter the United Kingdom arrives by ship, aircraft, road passenger vehicle or train and fails to produce a passport or other document which satisfactorily establishes his identity and nationality, and a visa where required, when asked to do so by an immigration officer. In these circumstances the owner of the transport (the operator in the case of a train) carrying such a passenger is liable to pay to the Secretary of State a charge of £2,000 or such other sum as may be prescribed. The charge relates to each inadequately documented passenger carried.
146.Subsection (4) states that there is to be no liability where the owner (or operator in the case of trains) can show that the required documents were produced to him or his representative when the passenger embarked on his flight, voyage or journey to the United Kingdom. Subsection (5) provides for a further defence against the imposition of a charge under the section for a train operator or the owner of a road passenger vehicle. The defence applies where they can demonstrate that they have in place a satisfactory system for the prevention of carriage of inadequately documented passengers and have done everything practicable to carry it out. This defence reflects the fact that train and road passenger vehicle operators may have difficulties, in some countries, lawfully carrying out the checks required to secure the defence in subsection (4). The defence does not apply where they have no such difficulty.
147.Subsections (7) and (8) state that where the owner of a road passenger vehicle which has arrived in the United Kingdom on a ship or aircraft is liable for a charge in respect of an inadequately documented passenger, the Secretary of State may charge the owner of the vehicle or, alternatively, the owner of the ship or aircraft, but not both.
148.Subsection (11) defines “road passenger vehicle” in the context of this section; it excludes taxis.
Schedule 14: Consequential amendments Part II: Carriers’ liability Section 40: Charges in respect of passengers without proper documents