UK Independence Party MEP Mike Hookem has blasted migrant charity boss Clare Moseley after she said that British hauliers who complain about migrant attacks in Calais should change their jobs. Mr Hookem said her comments were “foolish and polarising”, and slammed charity workers in Calais for putting migrants concerns above the law.
Moseley, the founder of migrant charity Care4Calais recently told the BBC that lorry drivers have a “safe future”, adding “if they have to change their jobs it is not the end of the world.”
But her comments have sparked fury from the industry, who hit back, saying that truckers have a right to a livelihood too.
Mr Hookem, who in July accompanied one haulier through Calais to see the dangers drivers face for himself, suggested that Ms Moseley might be more sympathetic were she to do the same.
“Instead of having a go at drivers who provide a vital service to this country, maybe Ms Moseley should accompany a driver and see for herself how it feels to be surrounded by gangs of men wielding iron bars, bolt cutters and other potentially lethal weapons,” he said.
“I can tell her now, it’s terrifying and I have rarely felt so helpless. The fact is no one who is simply trying to earn a living should face the type of threats British drivers currently face, and especially not in the workplace. In any other career, the health and safety people would be all over this situation.”
There have been a number of horrifying attacks on truckers in Calais in the last few months alone, some of which have, as Ms Moseley suggests, led to drivers giving up work.
In one notable case, a Czech driver narrowly avoided death when he had a large wooden stake hurled through his window by a dozen migrants who then mobbed his cab. He was able to shake them off by driving off, but when he reported the incident to police at the port was told that, as there had been no injuries, there was nothing they could do.
A director at the firm he worked for confirmed to Breitbart London that that driver, so shaken by events, has given up driving routes into the UK.
Other drivers have also reported quitting the Calais route thanks to their families’ fears that their next trip would be their last.
“The sad fact is, some drivers have already changed their jobs due to the migrant situation in Calais and I have spoken to a number of other drivers who are considering doing the same,” Mr Hookem said.
“This is adding further pressure to an industry already struggling to recruit drivers willing to work the horrendous hours away from their families and tackle the new licencing rules.”
The already tense situation has been exacerbated by European activists within the camps whipping up resentment and inciting the migrants to riot. Mr Hookem condemned those actions too, saying:
“While I have no doubt that many of those working to improve conditions in the port camps are well intentioned, Ms Moseley’s comments highlight an attitude among some charity workers that the rights of migrants come above all other considerations, including the law.”
“This was born out when one of my team was attacked by a French charity worker when he approached a group of migrants in central Calais.”
One group which has been particularly active is No Borders, also known as Calais Migrant Solidarity. They declare on their website: “Borders create misery and death. They are a cruel fiction, a weapon of divide and rule. They serve the rich, who use them to protect the wealth hoarded by colonialism and capitalism, and to turn the rest of us against each other.”
Ms Moseley herself has also shown little concern for the risks of open borders, dismissing suggestions that there may be jihadists hiding in the Calais camp as “the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard”.
Gambling with people’s lives on being right, she added: “You would have to be the world’s stupidest terrorist to try and enter Britain as a refugee, because when you come as a refugee you are subject to detailed background checks.”
Mr Hookem said: “For me, it is about time that some of these people got real and realised that the hauliers are totally innocent victims in this situation and do nothing to invite the attacks on both their trucks and themselves.”
“That is why I would like to see immediate government action to help protect hauliers and safeguard an industry that is vital to the UK’s economy.”