GETTY Violence in Calais has escalated in the run-up to Christmas

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Truckers say are suffering daily attacks involving knives, hammers, iron bars, baseball bats and even guns. Bold tactics also include dropping lumps of concrete on to the motorway and threatening injury unless drivers let them inside their vehicles. Hauliers now fear a lorry driver will die unless action is taken as violence escalates in the run-up to Christmas with firms transporting more goods across the Channel.

One female trucker told how she was surrounded by dozens of hooded male migrants trying to get into the passenger door of her lorry it arrived at the port in Calais in the middle of the night. Jessica Lewis said: “The police were nowhere to be seen. It is just very scary, very scary indeed. I ended up bursting into tears when I got into the checking area at Calais. “It just brings home to you the severity of the problem that drivers are encountering every day.”

Another lorry driver said the violence was the worst he could remember during his 30-year career. In another incident a lorry driver was cut across his chest and hand after migrants dropped rocks off a motorway bridge to stop his truck. Haulage firm bosses have warned of increasing violence in Calais and fear it could turn deadly if officials fail to act.

GETTY Lorry drivers are now fearing for their lives after increasingly violent attacks

This situation is completely unacceptable Tony Ovens

Tony Ovens said the Calais migrant crisis has descended into lawlessness and warned it wouldn’t be long before someone is killed. The sea port has witnessed escalating unrest in which clashes between migrants and police has left officers injured. Mr Ovens said: "I had two drivers attacked by missiles thrown by immigrants at my vehicles and damage done to the vehicle. "One of the drivers was female and they attempted to open the doors to her vehicle and when they didn't succeed they attacked the vehicle, leaving her very shaken.

GETTY More than 5,000 migrants are currently in Calais

"This situation is completely unacceptable. We, as hauliers, need someone we can go to in order to sort this situation." Peter Cullum, of the Road Haulage Association, said claims that threats and violence against drivers had doubled were credible. He added: "‘The situation for the drivers is getting far worse. “They’re facing a gauntlet of intimidation and fear. As more migrants reach Calais, they get increasingly desperate and resort to more violence. It is frightening.”

GETTY Truckers say the French port has descended into lawlessness