Dover locals lose patience as migrants arrive ‘by the boatload’

FOR CENTURIES the town of Dover has welcomed new arrivals from across the water. But in recent weeks the Kent port’s patience has begun to wear thin.

More than 200 migrants have attempted the deadly Channel crossing since November, and another 12 in a tiny dinghy were rescued a few miles from the shoreline on Friday morning.

Now Dover finds itself at the centre of a growing crisis, as Britain questions its ability to protect its own borders. District councillor Georgette Rapley, whose family has lived in the area for hundreds of years, said her home town was nearing “breaking point”.

“We can’t take much more,” the 76-year-old said. “The residents are all very worried. We are concerned about the influx of immigrants, who are coming by the boatload now.

“We see them coming up the beach but we don’t seem to be able to stop them. It’s never been as bad as this. Someone is going to drown soon, but there’s no money and resources to sort the problem out.”

Many locals in Dover believe the Government should be doing more to solve the problem, Ms Rapley said. But she added that resentment against the role of the French was also growing.

“The French aren’t doing anything,” she said. “They’re probably glad to see the back of the migrants, but it’s Dover that’s paying the price. The breaking point has to come somewhere.”

Fishermen said yesterday it was no longer a surprise to see a dinghy full of migrants trying to make it to shore.

Matt Coaker first saw an overloaded three-man dinghy in September, carrying four adults trying to make it to dry land.

“They started waving their oars and tying T-shirts on the oars to get our attention,” he said. “They had been drifting about for some time, they had no engine and just a few oars.”

The dinghy had taken on a lot of water, and the migrants inside “just looked like they’d had enough,” he said. The fisherman pulled his boat alongside, and one of the men attempted to jump on board.

“Luckily the customers I had onboard managed to grab him before he went back in the water, because the last thing you want is someone going down underneath the propeller.”

Since then Mr Coaker has spotted a number of dinghies in the cold Channel waters. It “doesn’t surprise you if you go out and see a rescue taking place,” he said.

Not everyone in Dover is convinced the town is in the grip of a crisis though. Christine Oliver, of the migrants charity Samphire, said the response to the arrivals had been overblown.

“The numbers coming over are actually very small,” she said. “I don’t think it’s helpful to use words like ‘front-line’ and ‘crisis’ because we’re not in a conflict here. That’s not the reality. People just need to calm down.”