Following Cobra meeting, PM says situation at French end of Channel tunnel is ‘unacceptable’, and MoD land will be used to ease UK congestion

The Calais migrant crisis is likely to last throughout the summer, David Cameron has warned, as he announced additional security measures to protect the Eurotunnel railhead in France.

More sniffer dogs and fencing are to be sent to Calais and Ministry of Defence land is to be used as a lorry park to ease related road congestion in Dover.

The UK prime minister announced the measures after an emergency Cobra meeting of ministers. Cameron, attempting to demonstrate that he is getting a grip on the crisis on his return from his tour of south-east Asia, said the situation was “unacceptable”.

He stressed that the British government was working “hand in glove” with the French to try to find a solution and he would be speaking to the French president, François Hollande, later on Friday.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest David Cameron says the Calais migrant crisis is likely to last the summer

“This is going to be a difficult issue right across the summer,” said Cameron. “I will have a team of senior ministers who will be working to deal with it, and we rule nothing out in taking action to deal with this very serious problem. We are absolutely on it. We know it needs more work.”

Downing Street later said extra fencing – promised to secure the Eurotunnel rail head at Coquelles – would not be in place until next weekend, but the government would boost security by funding additional fencing to shore up as much of the perimeter as possible.

This extra fencing is on top of 2.5 miles of 9ft-high fencing that was supposed to be in place by the end of this week at Coquelles. The responsibility for installing this fencing has been split, with Eurotunnel responsible for one side of the platform and the French authorities for the other side.

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Downing Street also said “urgent options” were being pursued to create alternative lorry parks in Kent to ease the congestion caused by the closure of the M20. “Ministry of Defence planners and the Department for Transport are working closely with local agencies to rapidly agree a way forward, including the option of a temporary parking freight overspill at Ebbsfleet,” said a No 10 spokesperson.

It is thought that army camps in Folkestone and Canterbury are also being looked at as possible alternative lorry parks to the M20. Measures to increase capacity on cross-Channel ferry routes from ports other than Dover are also being considered.

The extra sniffer dogs are to be sent to provide 24-hour cover of the approaches to Coquelles and the ferry port at Calais. Cameron also promised more resources and “more policing, if necessary”.

The extra dogs and fencing amount to a recognition that despite measures agreed at Monday’s Cobra meeting, chaired by the home secretary, Theresa May, the extra work to install fencing, particularly at Coquelles, has not yet secured the railhead, as the nightly pictures of migrants breaking through the fencing have documented.



Making MoD land available at Dover would provide an alternative lorry park to the M20 motorway outside the port. Under Operation Stack, up to 6,000 lorries have been queueing for up to 18 hours to get on to ferry services across the Channel.

The closure of the M20 has meant hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers are also facing delays of several hours getting in and out of the UK.

Kent police said the average queuing times for freight lorries in Operation Stack were four to five hours for the port of Dover and three hours for Eurotunnel. They confirmed the closure of the M20 between junctions eight and 11 and said the queueing system was expected to remain in place into the weekend.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Migrants walk on the tracks in the Eurotunnel site in Coquelles, Calais. Photograph: SIPA/REX Shutterstock

“The situation is not acceptable and it is absolutely this government’s priority to deal with it in every way we can,” said the prime minister. “We have got people trying to illegally enter our country and here in Britain we have got lorry drivers and holidaymakers facing potential delays.

“We are going to take action right across the board starting with helping the French on their side of the border. We are going to put in more fencing, more resources, more sniffer dog teams, more assistance in any way we can in terms of resources.”

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In Kent, Cameron said: “We need to do more to help lorry drivers and holidaymakers. We are going to do everything we can to reduce the disruption, including using MoD land, and we will be looking at other options we can take as well.”

Leigh Daynes, the executive director of Doctors of the World UK, which has staff working in Calais, said: “Some of the millions spent on vamping up Calais security would be better spent on meeting the serious humanitarian health needs of the migrants. We’re seeing increasing numbers of people suffering skin conditions and breathing problems as well as serious injuries after falling from trucks.

“Higher fences and more sniffer dogs won’t solve the Calais crisis. The number one priority for EU leaders is to fix Europe’s broken asylum and immigration system.”



Two migrants were photographed in the early hours of the morning clinging to the top of a lorry as it left the Eurotunnel terminal at Folkestone.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Two migrants cling to the roof of a freight truck as it leaves the Eurotunnel terminal on Friday Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Footage also emerged of three presumed stowaways jumping out of a lorry in Stourbridge in the West Midlands after cutting a hole in the vehicle’s side.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Migrant stowaways’ leave lorry after arriving in UK

French police attempted to form a ring of steel around the tunnel on Thursday night, prompting an evening of scuffles and standoffs with migrants attempting to breach the terminal in Calais. Up to 100 migrants attempted to overrun police lines at a petrol station near the Eurostar terminal but were held back by baton-wielding gendarmes and riot vans.

A huge fire by striking French ferry workers brought fresh chaos to Calais on Friday, causing a gridlock on routes towards the port. About a dozen employees of My Ferry Link burned tyres across a key motorway leading to the port shortly before midday as part of a long-running dispute over 600 job losses.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Access to the harbour at Calais is blocked by protesters on Friday. Photograph: Philippe Huguen /AFP/Getty Images

Earlier this month, striking ferry workers blocked Calais for three consecutive days, causing havoc with cross-Channel sailings and huge tailbacks on roads in the region.