Astonishing footage has emerged showing a number of desperate British citizens jumping out of a lorry in Calais before running for their freedom.

On Saturday afternoon, ‘up to twelve’ individuals were seen fleeing the German-registered vehicle, before immediately renouncing their citizenship and claiming asylum.

A source said, ‘The French authorities caught up with them within a few minutes, and made it perfectly clear that they would only be considered for asylum if they could prove that they had come from a third-world region, ravaged by conflict and deprivation.’

‘As soon as they mentioned they were from Basildon they were all put onto a waiting minibus with warm drinks and snacks, and members of the Red Cross turned up to provide counselling.’

Due to a loophole in the existing legal framework for cross-channel border control, a no-deal Brexit could result in thousands of British refugees on the continent being unable to return home.

One ongoing case has been presented to the French Supreme Court today, with the unnamed individual’s brief claiming that a forced return to Britain would be ‘cruel and unusual’ given that Dancing On Ice still has a number of weeks to run.