HGV drivers face increased Calais pressure

The recent Brexit vote is being used by people-smugglers to encourage migrants to attempt illegal journeys in UK-bound trucks from the Calais ferry port, according to the Road Haulage Association (RHA) – which has cited estimates that the number of migrants around the Calais port area has doubled over the last year to 9,000.

“These people have travelled vast distances, from mainland Europe and much further afield. But regardless of their country of origin, they all have the same goal – to reach the UK by whatever means possible,” said RHA chief executive Richard Burnett.

“And in the vast majority of cases, that means on the back of a truck. Such is their desperation to reach our shores that many fall victim to unscrupulous people-smugglers, and pay them vast sums of money for what they are told will be a ‘guaranteed’ passage across the Channel.

“They are told that as a result of the UK’s Brexit decision, now is the time to make the crossing. If they wait, the crossing will become impossible. The people-smugglers have no interest in the safety or welfare of those who pay for their services – they are just in it for the money.”

He said drivers were now facing “attacks 24/7”, including from migrants with rocks, bricks, petrol bombs and even chainsaws.

“How much longer can lives and livelihoods be put at such risk?” he asked. “HGV drivers, especially those using this particular route home, appear to be forgotten. But they’re not just drivers; they’re mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. They are absolute heroes.”

Earlier in the summer, a Telford truck driver managed to successfully appeal a £10,000 fine imposed after a vehicle search revealed five stowaways in his curtainside trailer. The vehicle had just passed through the UK government’s screening process, which includes a heartbeat monitor.

Jim Rushton, from Telford, was fined when five stowaways were found after he had passed through border controls at Calais Port on 12 January – but the fine was waived by the Home Office after the driver’s local MP, Lucy Allan, intervened on his behalf.

Mr Rushton, who drives for BJ Waters of Matlock, told the Shropshire Star: “I was absolutely gobsmacked because when the lady with the dog come over to me and said, ‘would you mind rolling your sheet back because we think there is immigrants in?’ I said ‘no problem, I have got nothing to worry about’.

“When I rolled my sheet back and I saw them, I could have fell off my trailer, I was that shocked.

“I’m 61 years old, if I would have confronted them at 4.45am in the morning when I first checked my load, what chance have I got against five of them?

“The majority of them are tooled up, they are carrying knives so what chance has an individual driver got, to protect himself?”

The RHA also reported an attack on one of its own staff at Calais, when a boulder was thrown at his car.

“Thankfully, although very shaken, our man was unhurt. However, we are now entering the peak holiday season when families, as well as hauliers, rely on this key route between the UK and the rest of Europe. Had this been a car with a family on board, probably with children in the back seats, they would have been killed.”

Said Burnett: “What other occupation includes running the risk of being threatened with a chainsaw, having a chain tied around your neck, or worse, by increasingly violent migrant hordes?

“It has now reached the unacceptable stage where these drivers are, quite literally risking their lives each time they approach the Port on the last leg home.”

He added: “First and foremost, lives are in danger. But, as more and more drivers refuse to make this journey because of personal safety risks, the movement of freight from mainland Europe to the UK will slow and the subsequent economic impact of this intolerable situation will soon begin to bite.”

Meanwhile, the Freight Transport Association welcomed plans to build a major new lorry park in Kent, to help mitigate the disruption caused on the M20 when Operation Stack is deployed during periods of cross-Channel disruption.

The consultation, which runs until 23 September, invites respondents to have their say on the design of the new lorry park at Stanford West.

Natalie Chapman, FTA’s Head of Policy for London and the South East, said: “FTA is hoping that this consultation will solve the problems associated with Operation Stack.

“We have been pressing for an end to the misery for thousands of residents and businesses whose lives have been repeatedly disrupted by Operation Stack on the M20, especially last year when it was implemented on 32 days. However, the design of the lorry site is crucial to ensure that trucks can be quickly moved to the port and Eurotunnel as soon as capacity is available.”

But she added: “FTA would rather avoid Operation Stack altogether and keep the wheels of industry turning, so it is important that the lorry park doesn’t become out of sight, out of mind. We still need to tackle the causes of Operation Stack.”

FTA also said it backed a home affairs committee report which prioritised the maintenance of the Le Touquet agreement, allowing UK border controls to operate on French soil. MPs found that post-Brexit calls for the agreement to end would be counterproductive and in the interests of neither France nor the UK.

This aspect of French-UK cooperation had previously been brought into question by the Mayor of Calais Natacha Bouchart, who shortly after the referendum result called on the French government to consider renegotiating the existing treaty that allows British border forces to check vehicles for illegal immigrants prior to accessing ferry services and the Tunnel.

The French authorities since played down suggestions that this arrangement could change, but any such move could have the effect of relocating migrant camps from Calais to Kent – with hauliers potentially facing longer waits in Dover rather than prior to crossing the Channel.