Migrant-hit Calais treats 1,000 Britons to a free trip

ABOUT 1,000 Britons enjoyed an expenses-paid trip to Calais yesterday as the French port town beleaguered by migrants struggled to revive tourism.

The winners of an online prize draw organised by the mayor’s office were given a guided tour of the town, which once attracted crowds of day-trippers and holidaymakers. The local council is paying their travel expenses.

The £150,000 marketing operation came days after a lorry driver’s death caused by migrants blocking a road to the ferry terminal with tree trunks.

Hundreds of migrants who are sleeping rough while making nightly bids to slip across the Channel to England are being kept away from the visitors.

The Britons met Natacha Bouchart, the mayor, who said on YouTube: “You must be our ambassadors to certify that Calais is a peaceful town that has been transformed during the migrant crisis.”

They also attended the unveiling of a statue of Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle, symbolising FrancoBritish friendship.

Residents of Calais were divided over the benefits of the operation, with some concerned about its cost.

Newspaper La Voix du Nord said: “Calais is again making puppy-dog eyes at its neighbours across the Channel, not resentful over more than 200 years of English occupation.”

The trip came a day after Gérard Collomb, the interior minister, visited and ruled out opening a migrants’ accommodation centre in Calais. He pledged to deploy extra riot police as tensions rise following the return of migrants after the “Jungle” camp was bulldozed.