Channel tunnel operator Eurotunnel is demanding almost €10m (£7m) in compensation from the French and British governments towards security costs and lost business as it tries to cope with a migrant crisis in Calais.

About 3,000 migrants have been driven by war, political turmoil and poverty to live in makeshift camps in and around the French port, and every day some attempt to board lorries and trains heading to the UK. The British government has already paid €4.7m (£3.3m) to increase security on the French side of the tunnel.

Eurotunnel warned of further disruption to services throughout 2015, following problems last month. Jacques Gounon, Eurotunnel’s chief executive, said the authorities were not doing enough and had underestimated the migrant situation.

Eurotunnel spent €13m on security in the first six months of 2015 and has requested the French and British governments to reimburse it €9.7m, of which one third would be to compensate for the loss of business through delays to its service.

Gounon said the cost would be divided between the countries despite the €4.7m Britain had already spent, which he described as a “voluntary contribution” to build more fences around the 11 platforms, each 800 metres long, in the French tunnel terminal. He added: “I thank the British government for its contribution.”

But he said the bill would continue to escalate if France did not do more to police the situation in Calais, claiming it could cost the company another €10m in 2015.

Gounon said that he expected the governments to pay up or face legal action, as a previous claim during a similar crisis in 2002 was eventually upheld by an international court, obliging them to pay a much higher sum. He said Eurotunnel now employed four times as many security guards to guarantee that no migrants were illegally passing through the tunnel. He added that the company needed more money to install additional fencing, CCTV and infrared barriers.

Eurotunnel’s problems have been exacerbated by a French ferry workers’ strike, which has blocked traffic around Calais. Workers from Eurotunnel’s now-defunct MyFerryLink service, which the group was forced to stop operating after a competition authority ruling, have occupied two MyFerryLink vessels and have held demonstrations that have blocked French road access to the tunnel, most recently on Tuesday.

Gounon called on the French state to end the standoff through force. He said that Eurotunnel had court orders to evict the protesting crew but it needed police to enforce it. He said: “My British colleagues on the board don’t understand such weakness of the French government in such blockades; I regret that the minister spends hours and hours with the strikers.”

He said that about 40 people were behind the action, adding: “The image they are giving of their strength is really overestimated given the number of the guys who are making these blockades. It’s not a serious crisis if you decide to tackle it.”

Gounon said there was no going back on the deal to lease the ferries to rival DFDS. The French unions say hundreds of jobs are at risk and that crew who transfer will see salaries cut.

Overall, Eurotunnel said in first-half results that business remained “dynamic”, driven by the recovery in the UK economy and partly in the eurozone, although it warned that the large concentration of migrants in the Calais area could continue to cause disruptions.



First-half revenue rose 9% to €649m, with traffic growing 8% for truck shuttles and 13% for freight trains.