Government invests £12m in Calais stowaway clampdown

The British government is to contribute £4 million over three years in a coordinated effort with France to help tackle the problems posed by illegal migrants attempting to cross the English Channel from Calais.

The issue has been of particular concern to haulage operators and their drivers over recent months, with estimates placing the number of illegal migrants at Calais waiting to cross to Dover at between 1,500 and 2,000.

The numbers have sharply increased over the last year, the BBC has reported, due to ongoing turmoil in Africa and the Middle East.

In a joint statement by the home secretary Theresa May and the French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve, a ‘joint intervention fund’ was announced, which it was said would: “strengthen security, both around the port and in the port areas, ensuring greater protection against migrant incursions and building on the sustained UK support and investment in improving infrastructure and security in Calais.

“This will include the building of robust fences along the ring road access to the public area of the port in accordance with the investment programme identified by the port management [and] the strengthening of security in the parking area in the east of the port, for which investment and annual security costs will be evaluated.

“Pending the installation of these permanent security installations, temporary solutions should be implemented as soon as possible, subject to the agreement of port and road authorities, to offer greater immediate security to the public and to hauliers using the port.”

The fund would also be used to protect vulnerable people, such as victims of human trafficking.

The ministers agreed that British and French officials would work together to improve border control quality, including through: “an assessment of current methods and the possible upgrade to newer technologies specifically to address the current risk to life from the smuggling of clandestines in tankers and refrigerated lorries.

“Meanwhile, improvements will be made to the physical layout of the border controls in Calais to ensure a smoother flow of traffic and better compliance with the relevant Schengen rules. These measures should be worked out before the end of the year.”

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) said its head of international affairs, Peter Cullum: “has been in regular contact with ministers and officials at the Home Office, highlighting issues faced by members and their drivers crossing from France.”

A demonstration of around 50 people took place at the Port of Dover at the end of September, organised by the protest group ‘Support the Calais to Dover Truckers’, following a threatened blockade of the port. Protesters included members of the National Front, the BBC reported.

Anger at the situation has been growing among truck drivers, as the Freight Transport Association (FTA) claimed that some were having to take out personal loans in order to pay fines issued as a result of migrants being found on board their vehicles.

Fines of up to £2,000 may be issued for each illegal stowaway discovered. Owners and hirers of vehicles can be fined as well as their drivers.

“We completely understand the frustration of drivers who feel they are being used as scapegoats in what is a desperate situation,” said FTA’s Natalie Chapman. But she added that the FTA believed a blockade of the Port of Dover would be the wrong way to resolve the situation.

Meanwhile in Calais, migrants themselves were also protesting – demanding improved human rights protection from the authorities, with some holding placards reading ‘stop beating us’ and ‘stop police violence’.

In September, FTA wrote to the Mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, following what it called a “crisis point” in the “worsening situation”, after 300 stowaways were found on 69 lorries in just one day.

In the letter, James Hookham, managing director of policy and communications at the association, said FTA members shared frustrations the mayor herself had expressed.

“The national governments have failed to take this problem seriously and have left local authorities and small businesses to confront a problem of international origins and of world significance,” he wrote.