Leaping into a lorry, the migrants bound for Britain
STOPPED in traffic, a lorry has its rear doors prised open and up to a dozen migrants try to cram themselves inside.
The images show migrants charging what appears to be a Spanish removals lorry before its journey from northern France across the Channel to the UK.
Some appear to stow away successfully inside.
It is the latest incident to play out in the French port town of Ouistreham near Caen in Normandy, which has become a target among migrants.
Local police told the BBC, which broadcast the footage, that fortified security in Calais meant migrants are increasingly trying to get on ferries running from the north of the country to Portsmouth.
Last night Frederic Aubanel, a police general in the Calvados department, said up to 200 migrants a day would attempt to breach lorries – apparently in a bid to seek asylum in Britain.
Mr Aubanel said: ‘There are 150 to 200 migrants or between 100 and 150 – it depends on the time of year – who try, no matter what the cost, to get into the port, to get to the UK.
‘It’s every day – it’s every day we have people who get into the lorries.’
He added that it was creating a sense of ‘panic’ among lorry drivers who use the port.
Residents in Ouistreham, known for its beachfront codenamed ‘Sword’ in the D-Day landings, said they were considering leaving their homes because they felt so unsafe.
Last night they urged French authorities to allow migrants to enter Britain so they no longer had to live alongside them. Other images showed migrants – who are not allowed to set up camp – settling down in public spaces such as parks.
One migrant from Sudan, named as Tiger, told the BBC he spent every waking moment trying to cross the Channel.
He said: ‘You must try every night. Maybe in a day, I will get in a car three times. If they find you they will get you out.’
British holidaymakers have reported seeing growing numbers of migrants loitering around the port.
One internet forum user described how he had spotted ‘groups of what appeared to be migrants hanging around’, adding: ‘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.’
Local hauliers have also reported rising numbers of migrants targeting the area.
Transport bosses have called for security to be improved and suggested the French military should be drafted in to provide a permanent deterrent at ports along France’s northern coast.
Christophe Blanchet, the MP for Ouistreham, recently warned that the situation was ‘at the edge of a precipice’.
Last year fewer than 17 per cent of asylum applications in the region were successful.