RHA: Dunkirk camp may increase threat to hauliers

By Categories: NewsPublished On: Tuesday 19 January 2016

Richard Burnett interviewPlans by the French government to establish a permanent camp for would-be stowaways close to Dunkirk ferry port have been slammed by the Road Haulage Association (RHA).

Last August, the Observer newspaper revealed that British-based smuggling gangs posing as UN aid officials were operating a smuggling racket at the Grande Synthe camp near Dunkirk. The makeshift settlement was reported as housing mainly men from Syria, Iraq and Iran, while the better-known Jungle camps near Calais are dominated by Sudanese and Eriteans.

The French Government is now reported to be constructing a new camp to provide heated accommodation by the A16 motorway for up to 2,500 people, just seven miles from the Dunkirk ferry terminal. Numbers in the current camp, which is built on waterlogged ground, have risen from 100 last summer to around 3,000 now, with more arriving daily. An additional permanent camp is to be constructed for the Jungle’s inhabitants near Calais.

Insiders report that around three stowaways a week reach the UK in trucks routed via Dunkirk: more than in trucks sailing from Calais where security is now much improved.

RHA chief executive Richard Burnett (pictured) said: “This will not solve the problem of migrants causing yet more misery for the thousands of UK-bound hauliers who regularly use this alternative route to cross the Channel. The issue must be resolved, not doubled.

“Migrants at Calais already outnumber security officials by 18:1. Our greatest concern is that the number of staff will be reduced and redeployed at Dunkirk. The inevitable outcome of this will be that what is already a bad situation will get much, much worse. It is unthinkable that lives, already at risk, are lost.”