One Calais migrant caught every THREE minutes: New 'secure zone' to protect lorry drivers after 8,000 attempts by immigrants to get to UK in the last three weeks alone
- One immigrant caught every 3 minutes trying to sneak into Britain illegally
- About 11,300 stowaways were captured in three-week period from June 21
- New 'secure zone' will cater for 230 vehicles, equivalent of a 2.5 mile queue
- Home Secretary said this would provide protection for lorries and drivers
- She said lorries on the open road had become 'targets for migrants'
One immigrant is caught every three minutes trying to sneak into Britain illegally, figures show.
Around 11,300 stowaways were captured in a three-week period from June 21 – revealing the extent to which the UK’s borders are now under siege.
Some 8,100 illegal migrants were stopped in France by British immigration officers working at Calais, while security staff discovered another 3,200 in trucks trying to sneak through the Channel Tunnel.
In a bid to tackle the growing crisis, Home Secretary Theresa May announced a new ‘secure zone’ for British-bound lorries at the beleaguered French port to stop vehicles being targeted by foreigners desperate to reach the UK.
Able to accommodate 230 wagons, equivalent to a two-and-a-half mile queue, she said it would provide protection for drivers by ‘removing them from the open road where they can become targets for migrants’.
But the secure area, expected to be open in the autumn and monitored by French police, was dismissed by hauliers as too little.
Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, told MPs that the situation in Calais was ‘out of control’ and criticised delays in opening the secure zone.
He said: ‘This isn’t fast enough. We’ve got drivers being threatened with bars and knives. We’ve had an example of a driver being threatened with a gun. This is unprecedented and it’s escalating. We need action now.’
He added that his organisation’s drivers had been ‘let down’ by the Government and also said the French military should be called in to boost security in Calais.
I don't know how effective this new 'secure zone' is likely to be, and my attitude towards this issue is complicated by the very real (and largely Western-caused) humanitarian crisis in North Africa. But it is crazy as hell to still be seeing the sort of images we're seeing and reading the sort of stories about lorries being flooded, and migrants attempting to sneak onto trains, given the level of public frustration that we saw at this kind of thing back in the early 2000's. This isn't exactly a new problem.
Tuesday, 6 February, 2001, 18:21 GMT
UK asylum plan: The French view
France may see the UK proposals as an electoral ploy
The BBC Paris office considers the likely reaction from the French Government to proposals from the UK Home Secretary Jack Straw for an EU-wide plan to reduce the number of asylum seekers arriving in Europe.
Last week an Iraqi man became the latest victim of the daily dash for Britain from the French port of Calais. His mangled body was found beside railway lines near the entrance to the Channel tunnel.
"He must have tried to jump aboard when the train was setting out, but he lost his balance and fell onto the tracks," said Alain Bertrand, a spokesman for Eurotunnel.
He was carrying no identity papers. Police still do not know who he was.
The human cost of illegal immigration is not lost on the French, which is why they are certain not to want to dismiss the British government's latest proposals out of hand.
Last week an Iraqi man became the latest victim of the daily dash for Britain from the French port of Calais. His mangled body was found beside railway lines near the entrance to the Channel tunnel.
A French government is unlikely to take too kindly to an initiative... that looks like the kind of "people-dumping" that Britain regularly accuses France of
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"He must have tried to jump aboard when the train was setting out, but he lost his balance and fell onto the tracks," said Alain Bertrand, a spokesman for Eurotunnel.
He was carrying no identity papers. Police still do not know who he was.
The human cost of illegal immigration is not lost on the French, which is why they are certain not to want to dismiss the British government's latest proposals out of hand.
Thursday, 22 March, 2001, 13:01 GMT
Despite the risks - and the tightening asylum rules across the European Union - stowaways continue to cram into planes, trains and automobiles crossing the Channel.
Safe haven
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76,040 people applied for ayslum in the UK last year, up from 30,000 in 1996
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The former home secretary, Michael Howard, whose Folkestone constituency includes the Eurotunnel terminal and a ferry port, claims there has been a huge rise in the number of people attempting to get in to the UK illegally through the Channel Tunnel.
Each month, as many as 2,000 illegal migrants are caught hiding in - or under - freight lorries.
The refugees, many from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, wait at the Calais terminal for lorries to park. Some rounded up by police are said to have tried at least 20 times.
Wednesday, 26 December, 2001, 15:37 GMT
Police used tear gas to dispel 400 would-be intruders
Eurotunnel has renewed demands for the closure of a Calais refugee camp after about 550 would-be asylum seekers tried to storm the Channel Tunnel to enter the UK illegally.
Alain Bertrand, Eurotunnel deputy managing director, said the tunnel operator was "powerless" to deal with the frequent attempts to cross the tunnel by refugees based at Sangatte.
"We demand the authorities take their responsibilities to take control of the situation, to put in place a curfew and decommission Sangatte," he said.
"The French and British governments have taken a passive approach to this problem, saying a lot but doing nothing, and letting the situation deteriorate."
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Trains were stopped for 10 hours overnight as French police, aided by about 60 British officers, rounded up the intruders, with hundreds of delayed travellers having to be put up in hotels.
Monday, 11 March, 2002, 18:21 GMT
Alain Bertrand, Eurotunnel deputy managing director, said the tunnel operator was "powerless" to deal with the frequent attempts to cross the tunnel by refugees based at Sangatte.
"We demand the authorities take their responsibilities to take control of the situation, to put in place a curfew and decommission Sangatte," he said.
"The French and British governments have taken a passive approach to this problem, saying a lot but doing nothing, and letting the situation deteriorate."
...
Trains were stopped for 10 hours overnight as French police, aided by about 60 British officers, rounded up the intruders, with hundreds of delayed travellers having to be put up in hotels.
Monday, 11 March, 2002, 18:21 GMT
An invasion by asylum seekers halted freight services
French railway bosses are meeting to decide when to reopen the Channel Tunnel to freight traffic, amid calls for added security to stop illegal immigrants.
Container services through the tunnel remain suspended following an invasion by more than 200 asylum seekers.
French rail operator SNCF halted operations from the freight depot at Frethun, near Calais, during the weekend.
UK cargo firms will be unable to move traffic on Monday night, while SNCF - which runs the depot - clears a backlog of about 12 trains, according to a spokesman for rail freight company English Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS).
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Container services through the tunnel remain suspended following an invasion by more than 200 asylum seekers.
French rail operator SNCF halted operations from the freight depot at Frethun, near Calais, during the weekend.
UK cargo firms will be unable to move traffic on Monday night, while SNCF - which runs the depot - clears a backlog of about 12 trains, according to a spokesman for rail freight company English Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS).
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An EWS spokesperson said on Monday: "The French authorities can re-open the Channel Tunnel tonight by taking very basic action.
"They simply need to provide the proper level of security required to permit the running of full rail freight operations 24 hours a day through the Channel Tunnel.
"The fact that one of the most vital trading links between Britain and Europe has been closed, affecting businesses right across Britain is disgraceful.
Saturday, 30 November, 2002, 12:19 GMT
Nightly ritual: The attempt to break into the port area
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The issue of Sangatte, the controversial Red Cross reception centre near the port of Calais in Northern France, is far from resolved, ahead of a meeting on Monday between French and British interior ministers.
Under a deal reached this summer the French Government agreed to close Sangatte in exchange for London enacting tougher asylum legislation designed to make the UK less attractive to asylum seekers.
Under a deal reached this summer the French Government agreed to close Sangatte in exchange for London enacting tougher asylum legislation designed to make the UK less attractive to asylum seekers.
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Many of Sangatte's inhabitants were gearing up for what's become a nightly ritual - heading off to the port of Calais five kilometres away.
I watched them as they trudged off into the night. Many of them were young men of Middle Eastern appearance.
Most of Sangatte's residents are intent on crossing the English Channel illegally by sneaking onto lorries, ferries or trains.
Tony Blair was about midway through his premiership at the time of the stories above. Jacques Chirac was president of France. Governments have come and gone in the nearly decade and a half since. And still the politicians seem to be floundering.
In the United States, we still have Republican presidential candidates running on the promise of (belatedly) securing the nearly 2000 mile-long border with Mexico, by building...a wall. The border between the UK & France has for the last twenty years consisted essentially of a single chokepoint crossing under the English Channel. And they haven't been able to secure even that.
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