Carjack terror as migrants ambush families at Calais
ILLEGAL migrants are carrying out violent carjackings on British drivers in a desperate bid to cross the Channel.
French police say the attacks on UK-bound traffic near the port of Calais have become “common”.
Migrant gangs get drivers to slow down by putting up roadblocks, then force the motorist to carry them through the border crossing.
The trend emerged after a couple from Oxfordshire were the subject of an ambush attempt by 15 thugs on a road outside the port.
Colin McKee was forced to stop when he saw branches placed in the road and was stunned to see a gang emerge wielding 4ft batons.
Mr McKee, who was returning from a caravanning trip to Austria with his wife Gillian, said the men came from behind the roadblock.
“About 15 migrants came from behind the branches with batons trailing on the ground menacingly,” he said.
“As they approached I decided to try to get through the roadblock. I drove through the migrants as they smashed batons on to my car and battered the windscreen. I realised it was impenetrable and stopped, at which point they swarmed around my car and caravan.”
Mr McKee, 54, had passed the wreckage of another car just seconds before which he thinks had been the subject of an earlier attack.
The mob then set upon a lorry which had pulled up behind the couple and both drivers tried to attract attention by sounding their horns.
“One guy signalled ‘shh!’ with his finger and made a slashing gesture, indicating he’d slit my throat if I didn’t comply,” said Mr McKee.
They were eventually rescued when a police patrol car appeared and the gang scattered.
Officers told them to drive on as quickly as they could after moving the branches off the road.
A French police source said: “What happened to these tourists is relatively common now.”
A spokesman for the Pas-de-Calais prefecture, which oversees public order for the region, said tourists were seen as “collateral damage” by migrants.
He said: “Some of them are ready to do anything to pass the borders. They are even prepared to risk their lives.”
‘One of the mob indicated he’d slit my throat’