Eurotunnel staff snaps man who halted train by sitting in on the tracks

This is the dramatic scene confronting Channel Tunnel train drivers on an almost daily basis.

Standing or sitting on the tracks, migrants risk their lives to halt freight trains near Calais in the latest desperate tactic to reach the UK.

They force the drivers to slam on the brakes of the 2,000-ton cargo trains, allowing dozens of other migrants to smuggle themselves on board.

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Dangerous game: One man sits on the tracks in front of a Eurotunnel freight train having halted it by climbing over a fence and sitting down in front of it

The trains then have to wait for security guards to remove the stowaways before they can continue. Some migrants will even sit on the tracks, which are also used by Le Shuttle passenger services between France and Britain.

Two people have already died after being hit by trains in recent weeks, with 16 killed in or near the Tunnel since the start of the migrant crisis in June. Britain has invested £7million in fencing at the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles to protect the platforms and the perimeter, but problems have persisted.

Train drivers have complained the situation is making their jobs difficult and some say they have also come under attack. Stones were thrown from bridges in one incident this month when 100 people stormed the site.

Desperation: Eurotunnel staff reveals that this is a common 'ambush' tactic, where one person will halt the moving train so dozens of others can storm the carriages while he is removed

Hoping for help: Dozens of refugees and migrants are being held back on the platform in Calais by police

The terminal is about six miles from the ‘Jungle’ camp in Calais, where 6,000 migrants are waiting to reach the UK. Up to 2,000 more are thought to be staying in two other camps near Dunkirk.

Calais Mayor Natacha Bouchart has called for the French to send in the army to deal with the problem. An official report this week revealed how only 4 per cent of migrants refused asylum in France were deported last year.

Figures showed just 1,432 of 40,206 failed asylum seekers were removed. France’s national audit office said the country’s two-year process to assess asylum claims took longer than any other European country. But French prime minister Manuel Valls said the 4 per cent figure did not include those who chose to leave voluntarily or who successfully appealed deportation decisions.

France argues the true figure for those who left was around 20 per cent. However, it is far lower than the 76 per cent who left Britain after being refused asylum. Yesterday it was revealed that only 86 people have so far been relocated from Greece and Italy to other EU countries under a quota scheme to move 160,000 asylum seekers. Countries have found places for a further 854, but it is still far short of the target. Britain is not involved in the scheme. A European Commission spokesman yesterday said it was ‘an evolving situation’.

A passer-by chased and ‘arrested’ 13 illegal immigrants who jumped out of the back of a lorry yesterday.

Businessman Des Kefford, 31, collared the group of Iraqis as the truck and trailer arrived at an industrial estate in Ipswich, Suffolk. He said: ‘I told them there was no point running away and they might as well wait until police arrived.’

Measures: A 23ft fence is being built along the access route to the Eurotunnel site in Coquelles to try and prevent migrants from attempting to cross the Channel to Britain

Stop on the way: Aerial view of the makeshift migrant camp the 'Jungle', in Calais, where more than 6,000 migrants live waiting for a chance to cross into Britain



