Truckers call for more protection against migrants and claim that the French police do nothing to help them

They used crowbars and and knives to get inside the trailers leaving drivers feeling defenseless and under attack


Stowaways bound for Britain were being caught at the rate of 90 an hour in Calais yesterday.

Overwhelmed border guards and police were removing an average of two migrants from every vehicle they checked. In just four hours 350 were detained.

With parts of the French port resembling a battleground, a soldier turned trucker said the incessant gang attacks on lorries made it ‘worse than Afghanistan’. A colleague said drivers were sitting ducks in the face of an onslaught of rocks and iron bars.

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Highwaymen: An army of migrants at the French port storm the trucks forced to stop or slow due to the strike in desperate attempts to board trucks to Britain. This group were trying doors of empty mobile homes

Holding on: The migrants are clinging on for dear life but jump off when they are discovered under the canvas by French gendarmerie officers

Brazen: The migrants abandon any level of subterfuge as they clamber onto the trucks in any way possible as defenseless drivers can do nothing but watch

Long journey: This man is willing to put himself in serious danger for a new life as he sits under the trailer of a lorry in an attempt to cross the English Channel

Anywhere: The migrants look to cram themselves in any possible gap on the trucks in an attempt to reach the UK where they hope for a new life

Tight squeeze: This migrant holds onto some railings in between the cab and the trailer of this lorry with no regard to his personal safety on the moving vehicle

David Cameron said the situation was totally unacceptable and Home Secretary Theresa May announced the deployment to France of more border staff and sniffer dogs.

Yesterday’s chaos followed a total breakdown in order on Tuesday when a wildcat strike by ferry workers closed the tunnel and scuppered crossings.

As travel operators struggled to clear the backlog, migrants from Africa and the Middle East swarmed across roads leading to the Channel Tunnel.

Drivers stuck in long tailbacks could only watch as would-be stowaways smashed wing mirrors and used knives and crowbars to break into the rear of vehicles. One migrant was pictured clinging to the undercarriage of a lorry heading to Britain.

Jason Derrick, a trucker who served for seven years as an Army driver, said: ‘This is worse than Afghanistan. At least there we had some protection – here we are just abandoned. The French police do nothing. We queue for hours without any backup as the migrants run amok.

‘Last week when someone broke into the back of my lorry a French lorry driver phoned the police, but nobody came. They never do.

‘It is getting worse – if things don’t change something very serious is going to happen.’

Under attack: Many truck drivers feel defenseless against the migrants who will try and board their vehicles by any means necessary

Searching for solace: This man looks for the tiniest space on the lorry which will be crossing the Channel Tunnel and traveling on to Dover

Above suspicion: The men hope to reach Britain on the top of the canvas of this lorry during the chaos. Vehicles were mobbed by migrants in Calais after the strike forced them to slow or stop as they could not board any ferries, causing tailbacks

Breaking and entering: Drivers stuck in long tailbacks could only watch as would-be stowaways smashed wing mirrors and used knives and crowbars to break into the rear of vehicles. One migrant was pictured clinging to the undercarriage of a lorry heading to Britain

Between the cracks: Migrants can do nothing but hope to make it through the border checks as cargo vehicles get into Britain. Many have reached the UK in the past and been deported but hope to return

As Mr Derrick spoke to the Mail, a migrant tried to climb into the back of his stationary lorry. The married father of one from Sittingbourne in Kent added: ‘Unfortunately, nobody has a solution to this. All anyone can advise is staying in your cab while it happens.’

Alone: Eddie Stobart Trucker Jason Derrick says they call police for help but are simply told not to leave the cabs of their lorries

Steve Williamson, a fellow Stobart Group driver, sat helplessly as five migrants scrambled on to the top of his lorry, sliced through the roof with knives and lowered themselves inside.

‘Why are the French police not doing more? We are sitting ducks,’ said the 47-year-old from Bury. ‘I come through Calais twice a week and it is getting worse every time.

‘They have hurled rocks at my lorry, damaging it, and threatened me with iron bars.

‘If something doesn’t happen somebody will end up getting killed. It’s inevitable.’

The married father said the cargo of onions he was transporting from Holland to Birmingham would now go to waste because his lorry had been broken into.

Another British driver opened the back of his near empty lorry as he arrived at the end of the tailback outside Calais. The man, who did not want to be named, said: ‘I want to show them there’s no place to hide.’

An Iranian migrant photographed using a crow bar to try to break into the back of a Dover-bound lorry told how he had only just been deported from Britain. The man, who also refused to be named, said: ‘I lived in Birmingham for four years but then they put me in a detention centre and sent me to Italy.

‘I have come straight back here from Italy and I will get back to England. In England they gave me benefits and a home. Here I have nothing.’

Nowhere to hide: One British driver opened the back of his near empty lorry as he arrived at the end of the tailback outside Calais to show the migrants that there were no goods to hide between in the hope of escaping the onslaught

On the edge: Migrants look for any possible place to hide in their desperation to reach Britain. One told the Daily Mail that he could get an education and a house to live in if he reached Dover

Onslaught: Drivers stuck in long tailbacks could only watch as would-be stowaways smashed wing mirrors and used knives and crowbars to break into the rear of vehicles

Hide and seek: French authorities caught 350 migrants hiding on lorries trying to cross the border in just four hours

Mojahed Abd, 16, who fled Darfur to try to get to Britain, said: ‘I don’t know why Britain does not want us.

‘I want to get benefits for an education and then work as a pilot. I could not do any of that in France.’

NAVY SHIP RESCUES ANOTHER 900 MIGRANTS FROM MEDITERRANEAN Royal Navy sailors on HMS Bulwark have rescued another 900 migrants from the Mediterranean. It means the ship has rescued 3,823 migrants since its deployment at the start of May. A total of 914 were picked up from overcrowded boats as smuggling gangs took advantage of calm seas at the weekend. They were dropped off in Taranto, Italy, on Monday – and many will head for Northern Europe. Bulwark will be replaced next month by survey vessel HMS Enterprise, which is half its size and can only rescue 120 migrants at any one time. Advertisement

Calais authorities had said they had increased security following the scenes on Tuesday when 200 trade unionists broke into the entrance of the Channel Tunnel forcing the suspension of all services.

Hundreds of migrants tried to exploit the situation by trying to clamber aboard UK-bound lorries which had been forced to slow or stop near the port.

But while riot police patrolled the entrance to the ferry terminal yesterday, the entrance to the Channel Tunnel was left unchecked for long periods allowing migrants to wander around the motorway intimidating drivers. Many of those who break into lorries get caught by sniffer dogs at customs, with 350 migrants found hidden in cars and trucks between 6am and 10am yesterday. Gilles Debove, of the police union Unité SGP-Police FO, said: ‘We are pulling out practically two every truck.’

The Prime Minister said more work was being done to install fencing around the Channel Tunnel but he said more also needed to be done to prevent migrants from coming to Europe in the first place.

He said: ‘We have all been witnessing totally unacceptable scenes there over the past day.’

More than 3,000 migrants have been camped out in the Calais area since April and charities predict 2,000 more will arrive this summer.

Holidaymakers face cross-Channel chaos after ferry bosses announced last night that 400 French workers will be made redundant.

The move is almost certain to spark more of the wildcat – and hugely disruptive – strikes seen on Tuesday.

Climbing to safety: These migrants try to hide in the trailer but will be met by extensive checks once the truck reaches both the French and British borders

Looking back: Many have fled their lives in the middle east and northern Africa and have set their hearts on a new life in Britain, which they see as a land of opportunity and resources compared the the places they come from

MOVE THE PROBLEM AWAY TO DOVER, DEMANDS THE MAYOR OF CALAIS AS PORT CRISIS CONTINUES TO BUILD David Cameron yesterday rejected demands from the French for British border control to be moved from Calais back to Dover. Call for change: Natacha Bouchard wants the border moved to Dover The Prime Minister said the chaotic scenes that led to the Channel Tunnel being shut were ‘totally unacceptable’ as a war of words broke out between France and Britain. The mayor of Calais said her town was being held ‘hostage to the British’ as she called for immigration checks to be shifted to Dover and Folkestone. Natacha Bouchart said: ‘The situation here is barely manageable. The UK border should be moved…we’re not here to do their jobs.’ Her deputy, Philippe Mignonet, said the crisis was not France’s responsibility. He added: ‘Calais is not the destination. As you’ve heard [migrants] want to get into trucks, they want to get to England.’ The British border was moved to France in 2003 as part of a deal to close the Sangatte refugee camp and to stop illegal immigrants reaching British soil to claim asylum. Ms Bouchart has vowed to trigger a ‘diplomatic incident’ with Britain over the migrants gathered on the French coast. She has claimed the UK has ‘not offered a penny’ to help deal with the issue and blamed the benefits system. Migrants ‘want to go to England because they can expect better conditions on arrival there than anywhere else in Europe’, she said. At Prime Min ister’s Questions, Mr Cameron rejected the move, adding: ‘The juxtaposed border controls on the French side are a good thing for our country, and we should be prepared to invest in them.’ The UK has sent extra border guards across the Channel along with sniffer-dog teams to assist the French authorities. Advertisement

Quelle Surprise! Another French stitch-up, writes LEO MCKINSTRY

The trip should have been routine, one that my wife and I have made numerous times before. But, like that of so many others, our crossing from England to France on Tuesday morning was marked by incredible scenes of chaos, intimidation, gridlock and criminality.

The first part of the journey, from our home in east Kent to the Channel Tunnel terminal at Folkestone, was bad enough as we encountered some of the worst traffic jams I have seen, with lines of lorries snaking for miles along the M20.

But the paralysis in England was nothing compared to the sight of utter mayhem that greeted us on our eventual arrival in Calais.

Breaking in: The migrants open the back of the lorry in an attempt to stowaway. One lorry driver said that his entire cargo of onions will have to be discarded when he reaches the UK because the trailer was opened

As plumes of black smoke billowed up to the sky from burning tyres across several routes into the port, gangs of marauding illegal immigrants – some of them armed with pieces of metal or sticks – marched through the traffic, brazenly attempting to break into the cars and lorries that were stuck in motionless jams on the roads that led to the ferry port.

It was more like a scene in a war zone in a developing country than something from civilised northern Europe. The more liberal parts of the media like to portray these migrants as victims. But from what I have seen on my many journeys through Calais, they exhibit both a brutish sense of entitlement to live wherever they want, and an aggressive contempt for the rights of others.

What I saw on Tuesday made me realise just how completely the French authorities have lost their grip in Calais, where a migrant camp holding around 3,000 has grown up. Which is why it was astonishing yesterday to hear the deputy mayor of the town, Philippe Mignonet, heaping all the blame for this crisis on Britain. ‘You’re an island and you can’t see that it is your problem to deal with your security. I’m sorry to say it’s your security,’ he said.

But this shameless statement is a complete inversion of the truth. This is nothing to do with British security. The disorder is happening on French soil. It is up to the French authorities to handle crime and social breakdown in their own territory.

If illegal migrants had set up a sprawling camp at Dover, for instance, and had started intimidating drivers, we would not expect the French to sort out the problem.

Intimidating: There are so many migrants at the border that the drivers are left totally defenseless against the mobs trying to break in

The French would not tolerate for a moment ordinary European citizens camping where they want or spreading litter or harassing others. So why are they so supine in the face of illegal and often thuggish behaviour when perpetrated by migrants?

I have witnessed the dramatic decline of Calais over more than a decade, ever since my wife and I first bought a holiday home in France and started travelling regularly across the Channel. We used to stop in the port quite often, but now we would not dream of doing so.

Not only has France failed to tackle the illegal immigrants when they arrive at the French border with Italy on the Mediterranean, but they are now improving the camp they stay in, making Calais an even bigger magnet. Only this month, the French government announced that it is to spend £360,000 on better facilities. They should be moving in exactly the opposite direction.

That means processing asylum claims efficiently, jailing trouble-makers and deporting bogus refugees. Even those migrants with genuine claims of persecution or fear for their lives in their home countries – and all studies show this will be a small minority – have no right to demand entry to Britain. Under international law, those fleeing persecution should settle in the first safe country they reach. Monsieur Mignonet is just as wrong to complain about Britain’s lack of support for his town.

Paralysis: Both tourists and commercial drivers were stuck in total gridlock after the wildcat strike stopped traffic in the French port

Our Government has provided £12million towards a three-year fund to strengthen security, plus £2million for technology to detect hidden illegal migrants in vehicles, £1million for new sniffer dog searches, and the gift of an impressive fence which was used to protect the G8 summit in Newport, Wales, last year.

True, the French have a point in complaining that our indiscriminate benefits system is a big draw for Calais migrant campers. Those who support mass immigration do not like facing up to this truth, since in their fantasy world all foreigners come to Britain to work. But the reality is that huge numbers are attracted by our lavish welfare state, which is based on the concept of need rather than – as happens in most of the continent – on past contributions.

That is why there are more than 400,000 jobless foreigners living here on working-age benefits, and why a Sudanese migrant interviewed in Calais felt he could say with certainty this week that he was sure he would get a house ‘very quickly’ once he arrived in England.

Yet there is nevertheless a huge amount of hypocrisy in the French blaming our benefits system for the crisis.

For David Cameron has made the reform of migrant welfare a central plank of his renegotiating strategy with other European leaders, in advance of the British referendum on EU membership. And, predictably, he has received absolutely no support from the French. And their hypocrisy runs even deeper than just welfare.

Indeed, the entire Calais crisis reflects the absurd folly of the EU’s obsession with free movement, which has smashed border controls, undermined national identities and fuelled insecurity between nations.