The Apple App Store has approved an app which enables haulage drivers passing through Calais to be alerted if their lorry is infiltrated by migrants. Hauliers face fines of £2,000 if they are caught with a migrant in their lorry. The BF Intelligence app allows others on the road around them to report directly to their firm if someone illicit climbs aboard.
The app was developed by Eastbourne businessman Jeff Scott, who was moved by pictures and videos of migrants swarming around lorries as they wait to enter the port. Despite locks and bolts, the trucks are often easily breached allowing migrants to climb on board. Others hide themselves within the body of the vehicles and aren’t easily detected.
Scott told the Eastbourne Herald: “We’ve all seen the chaotic pictures of migrants risking their lives trying to access lorries bound for the UK. Every day they try to break through locks and cut through canvas before climbing on-board.
“It’s impossible for drivers to see what’s going on directly at the rear of their vehicles, on top and underneath, especially with so many people utterly desperate to make the crossing.
“The BF Intelligence app provides 360 degree surveillance courtesy of fellow drivers and equips them with a simple to use mechanism that creates a real-time report that is routed to the owners of the lorry warning them that they have migrants stowed away.”
The app will be good news for lorry drivers who are currently running the gauntlet each time they pass through the port. A video uploaded to YouTube yesterday shows a large lorry crashing to a halt after migrants apparently cut its break lines.
And earlier this week a 15 year old boy was reported to have been punched in the face by migrants through the open window of his parents’ vehicle as the family travelled through Calais on their return from holiday. His mother, Angela Evans was filming the scene as hundreds of migrants swept along the road, eventually breaking into the lorry directly ahead of her, the Express has reported.
She later took to Facebook to claim that her son, Billy, was hit by one of the men as they walked past, posting: “Wonderful journey back from France yesterday, NOT!
“One of them charged over and smacked my Billy in the face through the open window, thankfully didn’t hurt him.
“It was like a scene from the Walking Dead with them all charging down the road, very scary.
“They tried to get under my truck (are they insane?)
“The poor lorry driver in front had just locked those doors and they ripped them open and piled in. It’s like a game to them!”
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