Calais migrants ‘may attack tourists’

HOLIDAYMAKERS in caravans and motorhomes are in danger of being attacked in Calais by migrants desperate to reach the UK, a haulage group has warned.

Fears of an escalation of violence in the French port were raised after a gang hijacked a lorry – thought to be the latest method of sneaking across the Channel.

Migrants hit the driver around the head with a brick and left him for dead before stealing his truck last week. He is being treated in hospital with a serious head injury.

The attack took place a month after a van driver was killed in a crash caused by migrants using tree trunks to block a motorway near Calais.

The notorious Jungle camp was razed last October and its 8,000 inhabitants were relocated across France.

But the return of migrants in recent months has prompted the Road Haulage Association to issue a warning to tourists driving through northern France over the summer.

The association said that up to 700 migrants are sleeping rough in Calais and called on the French army to disperse them.

Kate Gibbs, of the RHA, said: ‘Migrants are now returning, including some of those who were relocated from the Jungle in the autumn. Others are fresh migrants who are continuing their journey across Europe.

‘Our big concern is that the migrants are going to up their game and start attacking people in caravans and motorhomes.

‘We can’t stress enough the need to be vigilant, they need to keep doors locked and not to stop in the Calais area.’

She added: ‘We stand by our request for the French military to be deployed. The migrants need to be contained and processed. We really need to see action before more lives are lost.’

Charlie Elphicke, Tory MP for Dover, said of Friday’s attack: ‘This sickening attack shows the extreme lengths people will take to break into Britain.

‘Hard-working lorry drivers must be protected from brutal assaults like this. Tourists and truckers must be safe on the road to Calais.’

French authorities have reported a growing build-up of foreign nationals in Calais who want to get to the UK to claim asylum.

Most are from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Afghanistan, although some are Albanians, who tend to favour more expensive smuggling routes offered by highly organised gangs.

HGV drivers, many of them British, have reported an increase in attacks, including having bricks and branches thrown at their windscreens and their tyres slashed.