FTA and RHA call for action in Calais as Eurotunnel says migrants getting "desperate"

Increased migrant activity in the Calais area has led the FTA to call for action once again, as its members complain the situation at the port is going “downhill”, and Eurotunnel describe the migrants’ actions as increasingly “desperate”.

Euan Flemming, a driver for FTA member Blair Transport, said there were no security personnel to be seen when he was driving through the port this morning, and that people were dropping from bridges onto the roofs of HGVs to try and gain access.

He said: “It made big news in the summer because holidaymakers were affected but the situation is worse than ever. I’m sitting here in a curtain-sided truck and there are thousands of migrants all around – I might as well roll out the red carpet.

“The situation improved in August and September but this week it has gone downhill. The migrants have mobilised themselves – it is shockingly bad right now.”

FTA’s head of international affairs, Donald Armour, said: “FTA is dismayed to learn that for the fourth night in a row migrants have successfully managed to break through the security fencing at the Eurotunnel compound and past the other measures put in place since the summer. You have to ask ‘who is advising Eurotunnel what to do?’

“FTA believes more robust measures need to be taken by the French authorities to keep drivers safe and to ensure that Eurotunnel can function properly, without the dangers and serious disruption our members have had to endure this week.”

RHA chief executive Richard Burnett said the authorities are letting operators down: "The RHA constantly advises its members on truck security but the authorities are letting our members down very badly.

"Delays and damage are now becoming the norm and this represents a cost that the UK supply chain simply cannot accept. The UK may be ‘open for business’ but there are continuing problems getting through the front door."

He added that measures taken by the French and British authorities were "welcome" but "inadequate".

Eurotunnel spokesman John Keefe said that the authorities on both sides of the Channel had been pooling resources to up port security. “The two governments have invested very heavily in policing and security measures to better protect the crossing.

“Works that have been going on - with extra fences, cameras, infrared detectors and so on - are reaching fruition, and as the net closes and it becomes harder for people to get across, they're changing their tactics and trying more desperate measures.

“They're coming in much bigger numbers to try and overwhelm the authorities that are there. It's that last desperate attempt to get through with winter coming, the weather conditions deteriorating and the security getting tighter,” he added.