French lorry drivers say they’ll block items coming into Britain amid an immigration row – saying checks to cease unlawful migrants must be softer
French lorry drivers have threatened to block goods entering the UK unless checks to stop migrants arriving are more lenient.
The main French transport federation has complained that Border Force checks to ensure migrants are not hiding in French lorries and heavy goods vehicles are too harsh.
The French National Road Transport Federation have even described themselves as ‘victims’.
Unless the checks are made less stringent, they have threatened to block all goods entering Britain from France.
President of the federation David Sagnard told local French media: ‘I have colleagues who find themselves ordered to pay fines to the British, which can be as high as 12,000 pounds (14,482 euros) for the driver and 12,000 pounds for the haulier.
‘We end up with drivers who no longer want to go to England.
‘The British impose a certain number of checkpoints on us, seals, security cables. Everything must be checked every time the truck stops.
‘But migrants can get on during a slowdown.
The main French transport federation has complained that Border Force checks to ensure migrants are not hiding in French lorries and heavy goods vehicles are too harsh (pictured: A view of trucks waiting to go to the United Kingdom at the Calais border Ferries)
Nearly £10 million worth of fines were issued to hauliers last year after migrants were found (pictured: Migrants are helped ashore by an RNLI lifeboat in Dungeness)
‘We can’t be treated like we are today, we are the victims . The British don’t want to continue to listen to the distress of our members. If they continue, we will make them come, by blocking the border. No more goods will arrive in England.’
Thousands still make the journey via lorry to Britain each year.
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migrant Watch UK, said: ‘This is shocking. What gives them the right to make these threats and demands?
‘They would not dare do this.’
Retail expert Paul Dyer said such a move would cause ‘mayhem’.
He said: ‘I sincerely hope this is an empty threat because that would cause mayhem. It would hit the economy badly.’
Lorry drivers caught with migrants face a £10,000 fine.
Nearly £1 million worth of fines were issued to hauliers last year after migrants were found. The Home Office said 1,276 penalties were issued in 2023/24.
It comes after Office for National Statistics (ONS) analysts revealed last month a staggering 906,000 people were added to the UK’s population during the year ending June 2023.
This was 166,000 – or 22 per cent – higher than the agency’s original toll, which itself was an all-time high.
ONS bosses have yet to update their estimates for individual authorities, meaning the true immigration levels could be even greater than first thought.
Sky-high immigration levels meant parts of the capital welcomed up to 240 more residents per square kilometre last year, heaping even greater pressure on housing, schools and the struggling NHS.
Ministers have also been urged to introduce tougher tests weed out growing numbers of migrants who are posing as children.
Under a law passed by the Tories earlier this year, the Home Office has the power to carry out scientific checks on those who cross the Channel by dinghy and claim to be under 18.
Officials can use X-rays to inspect new arrivals’ teeth or hand, leg and collar bones to determine their real age and ensure adults are not wrongly treated as children and placed in schools.
But the tests have not yet been used and it is unclear if the Labour Government will ever allow them to take place, with immigration officers currently giving migrants the benefit of the doubt unless the individual ‘looks and acts much older than 18’.
The OBR assessment published last month pointed to Home Office visa data covering the second quarter of 2024 showing a ‘sharp’ fall
It comes despite Immigration Minister Dame Angela Eagle admitting that one in five people arriving in Britain by small boat now claims to be a child and that the ‘signal has gone out’ that doing so means they can ‘get a better deal’.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, who served as immigration minister in Boris Johnson’s administration, told the Mail: ‘The Home Office needs to urgently implement scientific age assessment.
‘I initiated this process four years ago and the regulations came into force in January – Labour must implement these immediately as we are the only European country not to use scientific age assessment.
‘Our system is routinely abused by illegal immigrants falsely claiming to be under the age of 18. This is an abuse of our system, putting pressure on services and leading to safeguarding risks when young males are place in school settings.’
A senior borders source agreed: ‘It’s self-evident that people are gaming the system.
‘When you get a 23-year-old man being taught alongside 13-year-olds, it obviously leads to a safeguarding nightmare.
‘But officials who are governed by the requirements of the Children’s Act always have to err on the side of caution. And many migrants are all too aware of that.’
