Immigration: Bribes to border guards on journey from hell... on board the first coaches from Romania to UK Hungarian border guards threatened to delay them for 12 hours searching luggage and examining documents unless they paid £250 Travellers familiar with tortuous journey - 1,200 miles via six nations - had experienced it before By Allan Hall Romanians seeking better lives in Britain know they come with the baggage of suspicion and mistrust. But they were the cheated and not the cheats while aboard one of the first coaches heading from Bucharest to London after job restrictions weres lifted. Predatory Hungarian border guards threatened to hold them up for 12 hours searching luggage and examining vehicle documents unless a fee of €300 (£250) was paid. One of the drivers told me: "It happens all the time - they see that we are Romanians and that's a green light to rip us off. Predatory Hungarian border guards threatened to hold up the Romanians travelling on this coach to Britain for 12 hours, searching luggage and examining vehicle documents unless a fee of 300 euros (£250) was paid Travellers familiar with this tortuous journey - 1,200 miles through six nations - had experienced it before. So when the hat was passed around the 65 passengers on the Tudan tour bus to pay the kickback, no one complained If we don't pay, they would have had every scrap of luggage opened, every document examined, items confiscated. It is corruption but we pay because we have to. So when the hat was passed around the 65 passengers on the Tudan tour bus to pay the kickback, no one complained. "It is because we are Romanians, simple as that," said Alex Prodan, a 37-year-old who has been in the UK for two years running a commercial cleaning company and removals business in West London. It is the gipsy thing; you come from Romania, you are instantly a Roma and not to be trusted. I wouldn't blame the British for keeping out those who want to scrounge, but everyone on this bus is a working man or woman looking to get on. There was no lavatory on board and for the most part passengers baked, unable to see out of windows streaming with condensation A couple kiss before they head off on their journey to a new life in Britain You don't put up with these sorts of travel conditions if you think you are going to a country for it to be a soft touch. The Hungarians do this routinely - as if the journey wasn't bad enough already. The trip was indeed hellish for the nannies, waitresses, carpenters and clerks on board. Having paid around £80 for a one-way ticket, no one expected club class - which was just as well. There was no lavatory on board and for the most part passengers baked, unable to see out of windows streaming with condensation. The only entertainment on board was a radio, and conditions at roadside stops in Romania and Hungary were beyond primitive. Undoubtedly Britain will receive its share of workshy welfare scroungers, people who want to milk the system instead of enabling it. But they were not apparent among my fellow travellers. One was 29-year-old carpenter Octavia Kessler from Ploesti. Out of work for six months, he has no job to welcome him, just the will to do it. Unclear picture: The Government has not revealed estimates about how many Romanians or Bulgarians would arrive in the UK from now onwards I didn't say goodbye to my woman or my daughter, who is only five, face-to-face - that would have broken my heart. I knew they would cry and it would break my spirit and I might lose the resolve to go," he said. I said goodbye by phone instead. There's no question of me doing this to get benefits. I want to succeed. Benefits are for losers. Mary Varga, 31, from Constanta, has left behind her six-year-old son and daughter, aged 12, to return to London as a waitress where she has been working for two years. "I want people to know that I am on the books, paying National Insurance and tax," said Mary in flawless English. Everyone on this bus wants to work, not work the system. Why else would people leave loved ones behind? Do you think I am happy to leave my children behind, not see them for a year, to work 11 hours a day, five days a week for a little over £1,000 a month? I do it because I have to. We all do. Labour MP Keith Vaz turned up at Luton Airport this week to greet Romanians in the arrivals lounge Shipping clerk Georghe Reiscu, 37, a father of two from Constanta, has also left behind his wife and children for a job in Cardiff. He said: "Every day away from home is painful, but the money goes towards a future when we will be together and hopefully living better than we can in Romania." Christian Ciornia, 27, from Bucharest, was returning to the UK where he has worked as an electrician for the past two years, after spending Christmas with his family. "You will find that 99 per cent of Romanians who go to the UK are self-employed like me," he said. We're not into benefit scrounging. I would get around £600 a month for the job I do in Romania, sometimes over £2,000 a month in Britain. And Donna, a middle-aged au pair for a professional couple in South London, added: "I would be living on the breadline in my own country. As it is, I am grateful for the kindness of British people. When I was fixing up this job, they all showed me nothing but kindness.