A couple have been fined £1,500 after they found a migrant had gripped onto the back of their motor van on the way home from France.
When Adrian and Joanne Fenton discovered the individual zipped beneath the cover of a bike rack at their home in Essex, in October, they reported the incident to the police.
The couple, from Heybridge, were then fined by the Home Office for neglecting to check that someone was concealed within the motorhome, according to the BBC.
The pair said they are now working on an appeal.
The Home Office said such fines are designed to target negligence rather than criminality. It added those who are actively involved in people smuggling will be investigated and prosecuted.
The Carriers Liability Amendment Regulation 2023 states owners, drivers, hirers and operators must secure their vehicles to prevent unauthorised access by clandestine entrants.
The government can fine people up to £10,000 under the scheme.
Speaking on BBC Three Counties Radio's JVS Show, Ms Fenton explained that the two had been on holiday in France with friends and had taken a ferry back to the UK on 15 October.
The 55-year-old claimed that neither the cover nor the bike rack had been examined by border guards in Calais or the UK before to or following the crossing.
The "really tight" cover they had been using for their bicycles on the back of the camper was unzipped, according to Mr Fenton.
"He sees two trainers... goes to have a look, and there's two legs attached to it," Ms Fenton told the BBC.
"He's gone 'Jo, you need to phone the police. We've got a stowaway.'"
She said the person hiding inside the carrier told police he was from Sudan and that he was 16 years old.
The Home Office sent the couple an email with information about the crime and penalties while they were on holiday in Australia over Christmas, they told the BBC.
Increased fines, new maximum penalty levels and a new penalty for failing to adequately secure a goods vehicle came into force from 13 February 2023 to prevent dangerous and illegal journeys to the UK.
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