A lorry depot in Bedfordshire has told GB News that it has had to bolster its security checks due to an “unprecedented” increase in the number of illegal migrants arriving at its site in the last year.
The overnight depot has recorded three illegal migrants climbing out of lorries on their site in the last 12 months, despite being 100 miles from the port of Dover.
The lead security guard for the site, Kenny, told GB News that the depot has had to toughen security checks to protect staff and drivers.
“We have to make sure that there’s absolutely nothing damaged on the lorries, that the curtains are still intact and that there’s no holes in the roof.”
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“We’ve always done these checks, but now they’re far more thorough and we’re having to do them a lot more because there are a lot more holes in the roofs.”
Kenny says the depot has never had as many migrants arrive as they have in the last year.
“We’ve had it where we’ve had no migrants in a year, now in the last year we’ve had three. Three in a year is unprecedented for us. The question is whether it will continue and whether we’ll have more next year.”
Kenny told GB News he believes the rise comes from a crackdown on small boat crossings and because “it’s cheaper to come over in a truck than it is on a dinghy.”
Lorry drivers have told GB News that they are also concerned about migrants crossing in the back of their vehicles.
Dutch lorry driver Edwin Bosveld told GB News that he got detained by British border force after two migrants climbed into his truck when he “had to go to the loo” in France.
He says he now takes his mandated 45-minute break in Holland, because “in Belgium, in France, they’re everywhere. You can’t take a 45-minute break along the coast.”
“Immigrants are a big problem” another driver, Stefan Abes, from France told GB News.
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Six months ago, Abes said that five migrants were found in the back of his lorry by French border force.
He said they climb up onto the roof of the trailers and cut open a hole for the migrants to jump inside, making it harder to spot for the drivers.
“It takes just a few seconds… they’re really quick, they’re professionals…Sometimes we do not see them climb in”.
Despite these worries, the Home Office says asylum claims from lorry arrivals have fallen.
The Government’s Border Security and Asylum Minister, Anna Turley, recently said: “We have delivered a record-breaking increase in disruptions to criminal smuggling activity, including arrests, convictions and seizures, rising by nearly 50 per cent in one year.”
“Asylum claims from those entering illegally via lorry, car or incorrect documentation are also down by 25 per cent in the past 12 months.”
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