The Road Haulage Association had threatend that its members might dump stowaways on the doorstep of the Home Office in protest at the prospect of fines for carrying immigrants.
If anyone makes it past all these obstacles, there are checkpoints at the bus station, at railroad yards and on the main roads out of town, complete with dogs to sniff out stowaways.
Truckers fears over stowaways first aroused when Home Secretary Jack Straw told a recent the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee that it was considering extending to hauliers the carriers' liability for stowaways which already covers airlines.