Recent increases in clandestine incidents and attacks on truck drivers at the Channel ports suggest that the French police need urgent support to protect travellers at both Calais and the entrance to the Channel Tunnel at Coquelles.

Feedback from Road Haulage Association members indicates that the number of clandestines attempting illegal passage to the UK are increasing and that migrants are becoming more aggressive towards truck drivers.

RHA Head of International Affairs Peter Cullum said, “Recent reports of French police harshness against immigrants, if true, suggest that the situation is not under control.  We suspected that recent events in the Mediterranean would make things worse in the Pas de Calais but we cannot accept bad security at the ports and on port approaches. Static security, such as fencing, has improved at the ferry port but there is no substitute for ‘boots on the ground’. Truck security, though important, is only part of the solution. Increasing clandestine numbers require more crowd control.”

Cullum said the RHA had asked the Home Office to take urgent action to protect UK hauliers but that ultimately it was an issue for the French authorities.