39 Bodies found in Lorry in Essex

As probably the only person posting in this thread who can claim to know anything about road haulage, surely you can make up some sort of implausible conspiracy theory to keep it off-topic? ;)


Thought about this comment earlier whilst browsing some trucking forums so I’ve picked a few insights for you.


dieseldog999 said:
hopefully this cant be misconstrued as racist as it dont matter what race or country the illegals come from.

if they were videoed scurrying out of the back of a trailer in england,then the outcry would deem them as ilegals,migrants,or the more favoured by the media ,clandestines?

the first guilty ones are the ones who decided happily to request to be illegally trafficked into the uk ( a criminal act), nobody forced then when its been shown that they paid £20 and £30k a pop to get lifted.
the next lot of criminals being the friends and family who happily paid money to known criminals for them to be smuggled illegaly obviously knowing they were paying criminals,( another criminal act).

the next lot are the criminals who traffic any commodities for cash.

after that comes the lot from the uk/n.i or eire that organise and assist ( no doubt the balaclava brigade on one side or the other) with the fall guys being the drivers at the bottom of the chain of criminals.

every single one of the aforementioned are criminals irrespective of for what reason or situation makes them do what they do.
if they are all so poverty stricken,then where did the 20 and 30k cash come from to pay for their journeys,and why dont the ones that got it refunded get arrested to explain where the massive amounts of cash came from?

this lot happened to die in the trailer,not the first time its happened,and it wont be the last.
since woody/mo got caught at essex,theres been another nine dragged out after coming out of dover this time alive, so its never going to stop until france looks after its own borders,or until the uk stops being the land of honey to illegals.
they are now opening a revamped prison ship in ghent to attempt to deal with the latest swarming influx of illegals and as you can imagine its highly likely they want to stop in belgium so once again the uk is the target from there.

the ones that are here have to pay never ending payents to repay the criminals that they arranged transport on penalty of harm coming to their familys abroad so any money they recieve from the uk goes out of the country without the uk economy seeing any of it.

the fact that this lot all died instantly,then the media makes out it was 39 equivelants to mother theresa where in reality they were no better or worse than the axle huggers you see running away every working day around england ferry routes and absolutely every day in their hundreds swarming around french ports.
the more france lets through,then the less france needs to care with the bonus of shafting the uk.
im assuming that this is an accurate description without the race card being played as nobody seems to pick up on the facts of this.


porsche said:
I see they have identified the person who hired the trailer, another Northern Irish person. The other man in his 20s arrested in Dublin yesterday is also from Northern Ireland, it’s been said he drive the trailer to the port in Zeebrugge, his arrest is in relation to another outstanding issue rather than this case. The whole thing seems to be centred around Northern Ireland.

What i find strange / amateur about the whole thing;
- if you are people smuggling would you do it in a Bulgarian registered truck? That has to draw more attention to the authorities. You prob save a few grand a year doing so but pittance versus the smuggling business.
- Especially in a blinged up one - isn’t that bull bar illegal, crying to get pulled over.
- a fridge seems like a lethal choice to use. Yes it can help avoid detection versus a curtain but surely if it’s an organised business they would have cop on to realise the risks.
- why stop where he stopped, on a bend near a junction. opening a door to let 39 people out (who it’s reported had a bag each) is going to take a while.
- hiring a trailer from a company which advertises that they have satellite tracking in all their trailers is foolish.
- combining a blinged Bulgarian reg’d tractor to a trailer which clearly shows that it has been hired from a southern Irish company (sticker on rear) again increases the chances of police / vosa / customs pulling over.

I reckon a few vans were there to meet the truck who then fled, this is a missing link. No way were the smugglers going to let these people (assume little or no English, never been to uk before) out at an industrial estate In the middle of night and drive off. The smugglers own these people and rely on enslaving them until debts repaid.


Santa said:
Harry Monk said:
remy said:
Was the driver charged with manslaughter because he was the last person to touch the trailer ? It's not said he was involved with them being loaded when and where that was, they are more guilty of the charge. Sad to say they were possibly already dead when he picked up the trailer.

I would speculate that it was because the whole thing was an organised people-smuggling operation and his role in that operation was to collect the trailer and rendezvous with other people involved in the operation in order that the stowaways be taken onward, by minibus for example, and because he was aware of the fact that the trailer would be carrying stowaways he was charged with manslaughter under the general rule of joint responsibility.

I agree.

I also note that he has been charged with money laundering, among other things. This means that the police have found evidence of him being involved in moving large sums of money around without due care and attention.
 
"Fall guy"? Yeah, right :rolleyes:

Frankly, if Maurice Robinson wasn't smart enough to realise that he was involved in something very suspect he really is too stupid to be driving a lethal weapon.

I am quite certain that the Police will make every effort to identify and prosecute the evil crooks behind him but that doesn't make him innocent.
Quite agree.

I’ve fallen out on FB with a few driver friends because I’m not supporting him!

If I thought as a fellow driver he was innocent I’d say so, I don’t.
 
Quite agree.

I’ve fallen out on FB with a few driver friends because I’m not supporting him!

If I thought as a fellow driver he was innocent I’d say so, I don’t.

I find it hard to understand why anyone would support him.

The police must have masses of evidence else they wouldn't have charged him.
 
I've no sympathy for the illegals themselves as they shouldn't have tried to enter Britain illegally. That said, I do hope anyone involved in this sordid affair feels to full weight of the law upon them.
 
But, predominantly trucking groups are frequented by people who know the costs involved in running a truck and the rewards, the gist seems to be he’s got there a bit quicker than you’d usually manage
What's a Scania like that set you back? I know what we were paying for our DAFs, I bet it's a good chunk more than that.
 
I find it hard to understand why anyone would support him.

I guess some of the drivers just empathise with him more - "he was just the fall guy" - seek to lessen his role in the operation and/or perhaps some of them know people who've been tempted to smuggle people over in their trucks and don't see it as a big deal.... not their fault if something goes wrong, that's the big guys running the gangs etc..
 
What's a Scania like that set you back? I know what we were paying for our DAFs, I bet it's a good chunk more than that.
An awful lot more than an equivalent DAF, he bought it (I understand) used so anywhere between £25 - £75k+ dependant on Miles, age, spec etc.

Bit difficult to discern its age but it’s an R560 V8 - DAF don’t produce a V8 - and the prices I’ve pulled from a quick browse of used tractor units, not specified for anything other than standard trailer work, more specialist specs like fitted with grabs or wreckers are considerably more.
 
Last edited:
I guess a lot more arent SCANIAs seen as the holy grail in the Trucking world?
Some love them others hate them, I’m in the former camp personally, other drivers detest them usually blaming the seat design which I’ve never had a problem with.

They aren’t cheap but are built to last and it usually shows when you drive say a million KM Iveco and then jump into a million KM Scania, the Iveco (assuming it’s still running!) will drive like a wreck, the Scania will be nicely ran in - the purchase price reflects this though, we’ve just had five new MAN trucks at work, for the cost of four new Scania’s.....

My old 08 plate ex Stobart Scania is still going, three million+ Km under its wheels, still running it’s factory original engine, transmission and differential.
 
Would you care to swap your daily life with 1 of these people? fair trade isn't it.

Not that I'd wish any ill on these people, they didn't deserve to die but.....

These aren't exactly refugees fleeing a war zone it seems - some of the cases so far seem to be middle class people from SE Asia whose families have seemingly stumped up the equivalent of a house deposit on sending them to the UK.
 
I've no sympathy for the illegals themselves as they shouldn't have tried to enter Britain illegally. That said, I do hope anyone involved in this sordid affair feels to full weight of the law upon them.


Would you care to swap your daily life with 1 of these people? fair trade isn't it.
I’m sure he wouldn’t neither would any of us, but his point stands, had they not willingly paid to come here illegally they’d all still be with us, it’s as simple and harsh as that.

The whole snakehead/triad organised trafficking operation is driven by willing punters who are well aware they won’t be entering the U.K. seated comfortably on a coach / train / plane and of the risks carried with that,this news getting back to Vietnam of people not making the trip alive won’t be the first time it’s happened nor the last unfortunately.

They weren’t round up and frogmarched here neither were they fleeing a war zone for example, I think an awful lot is being overlooked in this whole sorry affair by both the public and media.

I said in my original post in this thread that my overwhelming feeling is ambivalence towards the victims, maybe it’s because I’ve seen migrants jumping out of trailers and know not all of them are poor helpless victims,I guess I’m somehow hardened to it, I don’t know.
 
In one article I read (that I cant find now) It was quoting one of the drivers friends saying how "he opened the container, was horrified and called the ambulance and then the police were alerted" - How would his friend of known all of this?

Allegedly he fainted after finding the bodies, and then presumable arrested shortly after... ?
 
In one article I read (that I cant find now) It was quoting one of the drivers friends saying how "he opened the container, was horrified and called the ambulance and then the police were alerted" - How would his friend of known all of this?

Well presumably he's been allowed a phone call and/or has had some legal representation etc... his close friends and family might well have some details etc.. by now.
 
In one article I read (that I cant find now) It was quoting one of the drivers friends saying how "he opened the container, was horrified and called the ambulance and then the police were alerted" - How would his friend of known all of this?

Allegedly he fainted after finding the bodies, and then presumable arrested shortly after... ?

I don't understand why you'd ring the ambulance if you were in on it? As that would ultimately lead to your arrest...
 
I don't understand why you'd ring the ambulance if you were in on it? As that would ultimately lead to your arrest...

On the FB posts they are saying there was a bus waiting for the people, he's was opening the doors to let them out. What are you going to do if you see 39 dead frozen bodies, make a run for it and hope nobody notices, dump the bodies somewhere, then your in even more problems. Your conscience kicks in and you give it up. Try and pretend your were looking for papers in the back and had no idea there were people in here. Damage limitation.
 
I don't understand why you'd ring the ambulance if you were in on it? As that would ultimately lead to your arrest...
It's one thing driving a load of people to a point then seeing them delivered to seeing a ton of corpses. I think that might trip your humanity switch.
 
Back
Top Bottom