Mr. Ken Fleming:

My experience in the International Transport Workers Federation, ITF, so far has related to Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Germany, the UK and Ireland and we are the worst. There is no two ways about it; we are the worst. The second worst, running behind us, is Scotland. This all started in 2005 when a boat from the North of Ireland rounded the head of Fraserburgh. I know the boat owners involved. The Northern Irish owner asked where the Scottish owner had gotten the black fella on his crew. The Scottish guy said that he was a great lad - he was very skilled and worked for nothing. My boss was a guy called Norrie McVicar at the time. We took it on and we got a permit scheme introduced in Scotland in 2009. We then left. There is a scheme up there. It had a bad take-up but the conditions are different. The conditions are being abused, but they are different.