Migrants find new back door to Britain
‘Happening almost every day’
THESE are the migrants who have found a new way to get into Britain.
Two hundred miles up the coast from the towering fences and high security at Calais, they have begun to gather outside the quiet port of Ouistreham in Normandy.
And yesterday they were seen pouncing on lorries that were headed for the docks.
The young Sudanese men waited until the truck – which was pulling a low-loader carrying new lorry cabs – stopped at a red light before making their move.
One of the trio, who was wearing a Union Jack bobble hat, managed to get on board just as the traffic light turned green.
The others merely shrugged their shoulders and waited at the roadside for the next truck.
The raid took place at 3pm near Ouistreham, where three Brittany Ferries sail to Portsmouth each day, carrying mostly British holidaymakers. The migrants are a part of a group of about 100 young men from Sudan and Eritrea who live in a makeshift camp in woodland a mile-and-a-half from the port.
They sleep in rotting tents or under blankets on cardboard and light campfires to keep warm. By day, they hide in ditches or behind trees as they wait for lorries and caravans bound for Britain.
Many travelled to Ouistreham – which is near the city of Caen – from Calais after the closure of the Jungle shanty town last autumn.
Their arrival has prompted fears that migrants have opened up a new route into Britain by stowing away on ships that depart from the port. Tougher security measures surrounding Calais have made it harder and harder for migrants to sneak on to ferries there. So they have turned their attention to Ouistreham, where security measures are less stringent.
Last night it remained unclear whether the migrant who boarded the pickup truck actually made it across the Channel.
A witness to yesterday’s incident said: ‘As soon as the truck stopped at the red light the migrants were quickly trying to jump on.
‘Only one made in on board
before the lights changed. This is happening almost every day. They know exactly when the ferries leave for Britain and plan their days around these timetables.
‘Unlike Calais, there are not hundreds of policemen stopping them. At the moment they see this as their best chance of success.’
British holidaymakers have this summer reported seeing a growing number of migrants loitering around the port.
Those travelling in caravans have been warning each other to be vigilant as they approach Ouistreham.
One wrote on an internet forum how he spotted ‘ groups of what appeared to be migrants hanging around the area’.
he said: ‘On one occasion we saw them hiding in ditches at the side of the road, another time behind the trees at the side of the road. They appeared to be staying at the bottom of a field behind a bakery.
‘Drivers heading towards the port need to be alert as some of the people we saw were standing very close to the road and studying on-coming traffic.’
Another wrote how a migrant had got inside their motorhome, but started banging to be let out when he realised that it was not heading towards the port.
Conservative MP Charlie elphicke, who has campaigned for tougher border controls, said: ‘It’s clear that security between Dover and Calais has become stronger and migrants are focussing on smaller ports and inlets to break into Britain.
‘It is vital that stronger measures are taken to improve the security in these places.’ Last October, the Jungle migrant camp at Calais was razed and up to 8,000 people were relocated across France.
But hundreds of migrants have returned to the area in the hope of reaching the UK.
Some have used roadblocks made of tyres, rocks and trees to bring traffic to halt so they can try to get aboard.
Fears of an escalation of violence in the French port increased after a gang hijacked a lorry in July – thought to be the latest method of attempting to sneak across ~ the Channel.
Migrants have made 30,000 attempts to reach Britain from Calais this year despite costly security measures. however, many of these attempts have been unsuccessful, prompting some to travel to other ports across northern France – including Dieppe, Cherbourg and Ouistreham.
Some have even set up makeshift camps near the ferry terminal at Bilbao in northern Spain.
So far this year 1,765 people have been caught trying to smuggle themselves on to UK-bound ferries or freighters leaving from Bilbao. This is five times more than police caught in the whole of 2016 attempting to stow away at the port.
‘Stronger measures’