In the philippines — working aboard a scallop boat for a fishing company in scotland. Joel would bejoined at the company by other filipino workers with similar ambitions. But you had no experience fishing or at sea at all? onlyjoel had fished before, yet here they all were, recruited through agencies, ready to go to sea. The men travelled months apart but it was the same journey to the same place — annan, a small town in scotland's southern coast and the premises of tn trawlers. Its owners, the nicholson family, have lived in the town for generations. They're in with the bricks. Its lead director, tom nicholson. He owns much of the harbour here and lives in a substantial compound on the waterfront. At the time, he ran a fishing operation worth over £4 million. The filipino men were here to work for him on his boats. And did you see those documents again? his contract — to work aboard the vessel called the mattanja. But the company put him on a different boat — the philomena. Joel went to sea. But the others who'd arrived, despite being contracted to fish, were told to stay ashore, cramped in a caravan. Their visas didn't allow them to work on land but the company had them doing jobs at the yard and at tom nicholson's house, not what they'd signed up for. What were you doing in those three weeks? joel was at sea, but he soon found himself working way beyond his contracted hours. Joel was contracted to work a 48—hour week but he said he would regularly work 18 hours a day, seven days a week, breaching uk regulations on working hours and rest time. The other filipino men were soon at sea aboard tn boats. All the men interviewed by this programme say they were overworked and sleep deprived. On the boats, they said supplies of food and fresh drinking water ran low. Joel says he and the deck crew would eat tomatoes to quench their thirst and when those ran out, they would drink diluting juice without water. At tn, joel was earning around £660 a month, the equivalent of £3. 44 an hour — well short of the uk minimum wage, but that didn't apply to trawlermen at the time. Human trafficking is defined as the movement of a person from one place to another with the intent to exploit them. Because of the transit visas, these workers have to live and stay on the fishing vessel because they don't have immigration status. They're effectively trapped. And because they're worried about their immigration status and they don't want to lose theirjob because they're from countries where even a low, under minimum wage salary for the uk is quite a lot of money, they're in this vulnerable position where they can be coerced and basically find themselves in these forced labour situations, which we come across on a very regular basis. August 22, 2012. It was night—time. Joel was at sea on the philomena, trawling for scallops north of ireland. He was asked to repair a broken spring on the ship's heavy equipment. The sea was choppy, the waves high. Joel was unconscious for 10—15 minutes. He'd sustained a head injury — one that required medical care. The skipper that night was toer, son of the company owner, tom nicholson. He called his father for advice asjoel lay inside, bleeding. They then exchanged a series of text messages. On tom snr�*s instruction, the fishing continued. It was a full 11 hours before tom jr turned the boat around and headed for port. The boat finally docked at troon in ayrshire and joel was taken to hospital. His wound was glued shut, more than 22 hours after the injury. The doctor who treated him said the scar will be permanent. Joel quit tn trawlers. It was his last day working for tom nicholson. Police intervened. In december 2012, detectives entered tn properties. Eleazar and gilbert were taken from vessels. Jovito was found working at the yard. At least 18 filipino men came off tn vessels and were referred to the home office's national referral mechanism, the nrm — the system for determining whether a person has been the victim of human trafficking or modern slavery. The home office examined evidence from the police and other agencies and checked the filipinos�* accounts against key indicators. These include restriction of movement, injuries, excessive hours, no days off, being forced or deceived into working in poor conditions and little or no payment. Each of the men was recognised by the home office as a victim of modern slavery. There's good employers in the uk that bring in migrant workers and are doing the right thing and have always followed the rules. And then, the reality is the immigration issue has basically created this power imbalance that means if you're a ruthless and greedy operator, you can very easily find workers who are in a very vulnerable position and can't and won't speak out when they're being exploited and abused. The men would begin a long wait forjustice as tn trawlers was charged with offences and put through the courts. At the same time, tn trawlers and its sister companies kept operating. The company moved its recruiting ground from east asia to west africa and to india. And how — how old are you, vishal? vishal was an experienced seafarer. In november 2017, he arrived in london on a transit visa tojoin an oceangoing belgian tanker, the waasmunster. He was to work on board for 15 months in the engine room. The meeting point was at milford haven in wales. But his agent called from india and told him instead to travel to the south coast of england. There, he was met by two men. So, you arrive at the harbour and you see the ship? what boat was it? the waasmunster really was waiting near milford haven but the vessel vishal was taken to at southwick was not the waasmunster. Instead, it was a much smaller boat — a tn scallop trawler called the noordzee. This is where he was told he would work and live. Vishal says that, out of fear of the police and deportation, he got to work. The story resembles the filipinos�* accounts. Vishal claims food was scarce, the hours were excessive and he was never paid for any of it. All this despite having never fished a day in his life. Did you not complain? did you not. . . ? two ghanaian men, augustus and gershon, were also working in the tn fleet at the time. Each of them was earning £850 a month and £50 cash in hand on board. Again, though not illegal, this was well under uk minimum wage. Did you ever feel like leaving? december 6, 2017. Vishal was working aboard the noordzee, fishing in the english channel. Nearby, gershon and augustus were aboard another tn boat, the sea lady. Augustus had suffered a head injury. The sea lady turned and headed for portsmouth, where he was taken to the hospital. Gershon, augustus and their foreign crewmates were removed from the boat by police. The head injury sparked another criminal investigation into tn trawlers. In 2022, a decision was made to take no further action in vishal�*s case. Prosecutors also dropped human trafficking allegations relating to augustus. They are considering whether other crimes were committed against him at sea. In october 2022, ten years afterjoel�*s injury, tom nicholson finally appeared at court. He and the company were charged with failing to get swift care forjoel. Nicholson was also charged with withholding his filipino workers�* passports, as well as other documents. In court, for the first time, we heard details of the text exchange between father and son on the day ofjoel�*s accident. Tom snr replied: the next morning, toer sends a flurry of texts to his father saying he�*s bringing joel to shore. His response: so, that was a blow—by—blow account. Nicholson admitted the first charge relating tojoel. The crown accepted his not guilty plea for the passport charges, which meant the men didn�*t get the chance to testify in court. The crown office and procurator fiscal service said it�*s: it said it recognises the time taken in dealing with these complex and challenging matters has been:. . And it deals with every case on its own: we contacted the home office. A uk government spokesperson said the country has: it added that the border force works to:. . In our waters. Tn trawlers is now a dormant company. The philomena is no longerfishing. Sea lady and noordzee have been renamed. Over the course of our three—year investigation, we�*ve heard allegations of labour exploitation, mistreatment and claims of modern slavery at companies run by tom nicholson. We put these allegations in writing to the tn director and his son, toer. In a statement, tn group said, we: all foreign workers were recruited through: the overwhelming experience of our workers was that they were: we dispute many of the accounts put to us. We: to our workers and they were:. . When ashore. We: referring tojoel�*s head injury, it said, we did not always get everything right, and we:. . In 2012, when:. . While we were at sea. After administering first aid and medication: but we:. . To that individual. Tom nicholson snr didn�*t answer some of the questions we put to him aboutjoel�*s pay or vishal ending up on the wrong boat, so we paid him a visit at his yard. We�*re looking to speak to tom nicholson. Indistinct speech we�*re from the bbc. We just want to ask him a couple of questions. Hold on. We�*ve got some documents to show him. Documents that show that he was underpaying his foreign workers. £3. 44 an hour — that�*s not including the overtime. We�*ve got a letter of invitation here for a man who was supposed to be working on an ocean—going tanker. He ended up working on one of his fishing boats. So, we�*d like to put that to him. Mr nicholson! come out and have a chat with us. Will we do it over the intercom? want to come out and have a chat? just want to show you some documents, mr nicholson. He�*s in there — he�*s shut the door. Ok, let�*s get out of here. The filipino men in this story have leave to remain in the uk. They can work, provide for their loved ones — all they wanted in the first place. The ghanaians�* leave to remain has expired. They stayed to getjustice and now face going home with nothing. And for all the men who�*ve just told you their stories, the experience of working for tn trawlers and with the british justice system has left a bitter taste. What would you say to tn trawlers about the way they treated you? hello, there. Big thunderstorms are on the way for monday and that brings the threat of some significant flash flooding. The storms that we had on sunday were heavy enough but didn�*t affect everyone. Western scotland, the skies have been like this for days in the highlands. Another still day, you�*ll be wondering what all the fuss is about, i�*m sure. But further southwards, the radar picture showed some intense storms, particularly going through the south midlands. And in woburn in bedfordshire, we recorded over the space of two hours 59mm of rain. That�*s more than the average for the entirety of september. And over the 24 hour period, the same site had 102mm of rain, so nearly double the monthly average rainfall. And nearby in dunstable, well, there was some severe flooding with the high street underwater at one point. Now looking at the picture at the moment, lots of showers across england and wales again with some thunderstorms — quieter weather further northwards. But the met office have got an amber weather warning out in force for monday. Some communities could see around 80mm—120mm of rain, and it could well be that this risk of extreme rainfall extends into central, southern england as well. So through the day, some torrential thundery downpours focussed across parts of england, some communities having a high risk of flash flooding, probably some river flooding, some disruption. It�*s one of those days where you want to check on travel conditions before heading out. Northern ireland, west scotland, bright with some sunny spells. East scotland continues to be rather cloudy with mist. North scotland, we�*re seeing a weather front move in, bringing outbreaks of rain and ultimately cooler weather conditions. On into tuesday, well, the thundery rain is clearing out of the way across england and wales, so in that respect, it�*s a drier kind of day. In scotland, we get this cold front continuing to push its way southwards, really dumping the temperatures here — just ten degrees in aberdeen and 12 for glasgow. Still relatively mild, i suppose for northern ireland, england and wales. Middle part of the week sees active areas of low pressure bringing further heavy rain, particularly focussed again on england and wales. And once those systems have pushed through, well, then we get chilly northwesterly winds diving southwards, and so through the week it is going to stay unsettled, and through the week it is going to turn a lot cooler as well, with temperatures across the board well below average. But for monday, it�*s that risk of flash flooding we really need to pay attention to. Stay in touch with the latest forecast, please. Live from washington, this is bbc news. President biden says the us is doing everything it can to prevent a wider war in the middle east as israel and hezbollah are urged to step back from the brink. A political shift for sri lanka as a left—wing anti—corruption candidate wins the country�*s presidential election. And world leaders back the un�*s pact for the future, pledging to work together on challenges including climate change, ai and inequality. Hello, i�*m carl nasman. Welcome to the programme. Presidentjoe biden has said the us is doing everything it can to prevent a wider war in the middle east. It comes as israel and hezbollah threaten to increase cross—border attacks. Israel�*s military says hezbollah launched about 150 rockets into the country this weekend with some landing near the city of haifa. Hezbollah�*s attack comes after pagers and radio devices