A trucker has vowed to fight a £10,000 fine after five illegal immigrants were found in his lorry outside Dover.

Martyn Parker, 44, of Stratford Gardens, Stanford, insists he and other British drivers are being made scapegoats by the Government.

He was handed the fine after officials at Dover refused to believe he had no knowledge of the five Kurds.

Just two months ago the Echo reported how a Czech driver whose lorry contained 16 refugees was let off by Basildon police after they leapt out at a Laindon industrial estate.

He said: "I'm a trucker - not a smuggler. The French authorities have very lax security at Calais where it should be tightest."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.