Illegal migrants desperate to get to Britain continue to swarm lorries bound for cross-channel ferries in violent packs – and have taken to threatening British truck drivers with knives to force them into becoming unwitting people smugglers.
Ordinarily tough-as-nails truckers now fear Calais, as in the words of one haulage boss: “It’s just a matter of time now before someone is killed”. A number of drivers have spoken to the Express to voice their concerns, as companies start to re-route traffic to other ports to avoid trouble, adding costly time to the journeys of imported food and goods. Driver John Mordue, 50, said:
“My mate was threatened by a migrant with a knife and his exact words were, ‘I’ll kill you, I don’t care’.
“That is what you are up against every day. It’s got very bad and very dangerous. They all carry knives, every one of them. I had eight in the back of my trailer one night.
“It’s a nightmare, especially when we are all stacked up on the motorway. That’s when they seize the chance to break into the trailers.”
Michael Almela, 46, said: “When we approach Calais at low speed they all try to break into our lorries. When we slow down or are at a standstill they’re ready to pounce, by opening doors or hanging on to axles underneath. It’s dangerous.
“It’s extremely frightening when 100 people are surrounding your truck, trying to get in. I have everything to lose – they don’t.”
Steve Bowkett, 50, added: “They’ll try to break into trailers, opening back doors, slashing the side curtain or climbing on the roof. The damage they cause is horrendous. Two of them threatened me when I found them in the back of my trailer hiding among the pallets. The job is becoming a nightmare.”
“The migrants are armed and dangerous and they get more desperate by the day. The town and surrounding countryside is rife with gangs.
“I have been in this business for 30 years and this is the worst I have known it. We are getting no help at all. The police just look the other way.
“A couple of weeks ago the problem was so bad that even my bravest drivers, some of whom are ex-Marines, were asking if they could re-route to avoid Calais.
“On a good day you see 200 migrants on the approach roads but on a bad day there will be 1,500. They all want to get to the UK, it’s the land of milk and honey.”
A great caravan route across Europe has now been established, as thousands disembark boats from North Africa bound for Europe, either entering the continent undetected or being picked up by the European navies patrolling the Mediterranean. On landing many immediately set out to move north – migrating to the channel ports so they can smuggle their way to the United Kingdom.
Breitbart London reported last month on the emergence of a major transit camp, established as a short stop-over for migrants as they make their way to the UK, in Paris. Hundreds of tents with ‘portaloos’, existing in the most squalid conditions were passed from one wave of migrants to the next as they came and went. Parisian police forcibly cleared the site this week, opposed by militant communist students who joined together in an attempt to oppose the arrival of riot police.