21st
Feb 2016
Ryanair won their day in court when they appealed against the government’s fine levied on them by the Home Office because illegal immigrants flew into the UK on its flights. This ruling could cause serious repercussions for the Right to Rent legislation.
The judge granted their appeal on the grounds that the airline’s staff could not possibly be expected to have the skills to detect expertly forged passports, that even highly trained immigration officers found hard to spot.
The judge concluded by saying that as that the Home Office imposes the regime of how airlines must check passports it ‘offends the basic concepts of justice and indeed rule of law.’
The ruling could mean that the enforcement of the government’s ‘Right to Rent’ policy may well be questioned in court by landlord’s who had been prosecuted for allowing illegal’s to rent their properties; using the defence that they themselves could not possibly have the skillset to identify forged passports.
Policy Director for an association of letting agents, David Smith said: “This court ruling vindicates what we have been saying all along, that landlords cannot and should not be expected to act as border police or to detect forgeries that trained and experienced airline staff and immigration officers might miss. In light of this case and to save the Government money from losing similar actions brought by landlords, we call on the Government to provide better information to landlords about document forgeries and offer more clarity as to the legal responsibility of landlords duped by forged identify documents.”
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