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Courtesy of the Times.
Migrants trying to reach Britain from France are turning their attention to Normandy after being forced from Calais by tight security, local hauliers have said. They warned that rising numbers were targeting the northern French city of Caen, more than 200 miles west of the staging point most commonly used to cross the Channel. Transport bosses called for security in Normandy to be greatly improved after a surge in reports of illegal immigrants trying to climb aboard lorries bound for Britain. The Road Haulage Association (RHA) said that the French military was needed to prevent a chaotic situation escalating.
In October 2016, the so-called Jungle migrant camp in Calais was cleared by the French authorities, forcing large numbers of refugees and migrants to seek alternative passage to Britain’s south coast. Many went to the nearby port of Dunkirk. Security at the Calais sea port and the nearby Channel tunnel rail link was significantly improved, with a £2 million wall built to protect lorry drivers on the port approach road. However, the RHA said that the problem had simply been shifted to Caen, which has a ferry link to Portsmouth. The crossing typically takes about six hours. About 150 mainly Sudanese migrants have settled in woods in Ouistreham near Caen, according to residents. Shopkeepers there met interior ministry officials this month to air their concerns that more migrants would arrive over the summer, leaving the town with the same problems faced by Calais.
“We’re at the edge of the precipice,” Christophe Blanchet, the MP for Ouistreham, said. Romain Bail, the mayor, agreed. “We cannot let illegal immigrants occupy the land like this,” he said.
Rod McKenzie, the managing director for policy and public affairs at the RHA, said: “We have evidence of a real and present threat to the lives of lorry drivers who are just trying to do their job getting goods to the UK. Real problems occur when lorries are forced to stop by makeshift roadblocks where migrant gangs attempt to get on board, frequently with threats of violence.”
He added: “We have also been told of threats of rape towards female drivers. There’s no question that the risk to drivers is significant and the situation is deteriorating.” The destruction of the Jungle camp, which was home to about 10,000 migrants, forced trafficking networks to seek other routes. Some are now putting migrants into the backs of lorries at parks that are far from the Channel coast. One gang was broken up by police last year after an investigation revealed that its members were helping about 40 migrants to stow away in British-bound lorries every day in Angoulême, 600 miles from the coast.