Premium smuggling service

[SimonX]

We live in North Yorkshire now and the towns of Filey, Whitby and Scarborough have just such signs plastered about the place. I cant help feeling that there must be easier routes to cross than a couple of hundred miles of the grey north sea . Unless these are the folks who took a wrong turn at Sangatte and just kept going.

Didn’t a certain ex-Reform MP call out the coastguard because he thought some round Britain rowers were “illegals” off Yarmouth?

 

[Poignard]

We live in North Yorkshire now and the towns of Filey, Whitby and Scarborough have just such signs plastered about the place. I cant help feeling that there must be easier routes to cross than a couple of hundred miles of the grey north sea . Unless these are the folks who took a wrong turn at Sangatte and just kept going.

Count Dracula managed it.

 

[Poignard]

Didn’t a certain ex-Reform MP call out the coastguard because he thought some round Britain rowers were “illegals” off Yarmouth?

That wouldn't surprise me, but nothing about that bunch of clowns would surprise me.

 

[Irish Rover]

That wouldn't surprise me, but nothing about that bunch of clowns would surprise me.

That's not very nice, is it? What did the rowers do to deserve that?

 

[Seashoreman]

Yachts have come into local rivers and creeks in sleepy Suffolk and no doubt Essex, anchored for the night, dropped of their 'passengers' at first light to awaiting van and off they go. Has been happening for many years. Very rarely caught and prosecuted. Probably more chance of being tipped off at the leaving port than by
a dawn dog walker in somewhere like Orford.

 

[BobnLesley]

These guys were greedy, but I'd be surprised if yachts are not being used very regularly for this purpose. One "live" trip per year from an otherwise active yacht pays the annual marina fees, maintenance etc. Be sure it's happening. Maybe one of the yachts in your marina is involved.

You and me both. During the years that we sailed I was always amazed at just how lax arrival security appeared (perhaps the drones were watching?) to be; the USA seemed especially lax, though that might've changed nowadays.

 

[johnalison]

The nearest I've been involved was when a young American lady approached us in Calais and asked if she could come with us back to Ramsgate. My wife didn't think it was a very good idea, and, on our 26' boat, nor did I.

 

[SimonX]

The nearest I've been involved was when a young American lady approached us in Calais and asked if she could come with us back to Ramsgate. My wife didn't think it was a very good idea, and, on our 26' boat, nor did I.

We had the same when we were in Granville, an Aussie couple wanted to know if we would give them a lift to England. We uhm-ed and ah-ed but the subject was moot when we told them we weren’t going anywhere until our cracked exhaust manifold was fixed.

 

[westernman]

You and me both. During the years that we sailed I was always amazed at just how lax arrival security appeared (perhaps the drones were watching?) to be; the USA seemed especially lax, though that might've changed nowadays.

I once walked across the border from the USA to Tijuana in Mexico and came back again. While coming back, some one barged through the shortish queue of people waiting to go through a kind of turnstile and show some kind of documentation to a big fat bored border guard. The guy ran through the queue and clambered over a fence which was about 6 feet high (i.e. not difficult if you are motivated). The big fat border guard started running after him but after 5 paces or so gave up and came back to check the people in his queue. No body said anything. No body contacted any one on a radio or made any effort to go after the illegal. I guess it was a common occurance.

 

[DownWest]

Back in the 70s, it was India/Pakistan 'immigrants'. A client at the airfield had a four seat french jobby. Used to rent it out to a bloke whose old twin had 'reached end of life' in a field and the cows had munched it .... Well, we had to overhaul the engine as it was a bit tired.. Slightly surprised because the hours were not high enough to expect that.

Got a call from someone at the East coast.. 'You might want to know that I saw G-XXXX yesterday, landing at our local strip. Several guys of asian decent hopped of with cases and disappearing into cars..

So, seemed the renter was overloading paying 'passengers' to get them into UK, hence the clapped out donk.

Yachts are a bit cheaper to run...

 

[Irish Rover]

french jobby.

 

[Juan Twothree]

Didn’t a certain ex-Reform MP call out the coastguard because he thought some round Britain rowers were “illegals” off Yarmouth?

The version I've heard is that he put out a social media post saying there were illegal immigrants off the coast of his constituency, and as a result a few dozen of his supporters gathered on the beach to stop the "migrants" coming ashore.

If was only after they'd tracked them along the beach for several miles, in what was now total darkness, that it dawned on the vigilantes that the boat wasn't getting any bigger, and was traveling parallel to the coast.

 

[jlavery]

Hardly describe that boat as "premium" .... I suppose it's a step up from a rubber dinghy

The BBC article refers to the "$20,000 yacht".

There's a trend for the press to portray yachts as "luxury" etc., when they're nothing of the sort. A $20,000 34 footer is an old, tired boat!

 

[Baggywrinkle]

The BBC article refers to the "$20,000 yacht".

There's a trend for the press to portray yachts as "luxury" etc., when they're nothing of the sort. A $20,000 34 footer is an old, tired boat!

Boating can be had on any budget, but the U.K. press will define cigarettes, beer, and even a mobile phone as a luxury if it helps them vilify a minority.