Calais refugee violence putting lorry drivers at risk, says victim

Man whose windscreen was smashed by rocks says drivers will start carrying tools for defence unless authorities act.

 

Refugees enter the trailer of a truck near the Eurotunnel in Calais. Photograph: Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images

A lorry driver whose windscreen was smashed with a rock apparently thrown by refugees in Calais has said that unless authorities take such risks seriously drivers will start carrying tools to defend themselves.

The driver, who works for Ireland’s Virginia International Logistics, shared dramatic pictures of his smashed windscreen on Thursday, resulting in the country’s Freight Transport Association calling for drastic action to be taken to quell escalating tensions at the French port. 

 

The driver’s smashed windsreen. Photograph: Freight Transport Association Ireland

“Drivers are unprotected. It’s not going to stop until [someone] is seriously hurt,” the driver, who did not want to be named, told the Guardian. “All you can do is lock the truck, but sitting in traffic means it’s easy to attack. It’s time for drivers to carry something to protect themselves.”

The driver said he had been in a queue of traffic moving into the port when men on the road started throwing stones at all the lorries. “You feel very angry, helpless, and disappointed with the situation but cannot do anything about this. I have never seen as many immigrants on the roads before, trying to cause trouble.

“This will not end any time soon, it’s like a war zone and needs the army in to help control it. I do not want to be using the Calais port when heading back into the UK.”

The windscreen of the lorry was cracked in two places in the alleged attack, photographs show. The driver said he was told by police to report the incident at the police station in the town centre, which would have involved leaving the port and travelling back through for a second time.

“The police seem happier to allow the migrants to go to the UK so it’s not France’s problem,” he said. The driver admitted he had never personally met anyone injured by stone throwing, but pointed to multiple videos shared online of items being thrown at lorries.

One of the managers at the haulage company said drivers were reluctant to use the crossing. “The situation in Calais is becoming far more hostile and drivers are genuinely fearful of entering Calais,” Bryan Dolan said. “The thoughts are that someone is going to get seriously hurt or killed if attacks continue in the same manner and personally I think it’s only a matter of time before a driver retaliates.”

Dolan said the numbers of people trying to get into lorries had significantly increased because of mounting desperation in the overcrowded camps. “People are becoming desperate to enter the UK and are turning to violence to help them achieve that goal,” he said.

“Transport companies are left with footing any bill for damages caused to vehicles, serious delays to loads going through Calais and also extra costs for diverting loads through other ports to avoid Calais.”

The Freight Transport Association (FTA) described the violent confrontations around Calais as unprecedented. Chris Yarsley, from the organisation’s Brussels office, said he was flabbergasted by what he saw.

“They were attacking vehicles; breaking the locks of trucks, slashing roofs of the lorries and climbing in the back of them,” he said.

French police used tear gas to break up crowds of people attempting to enter the lorries, but were overwhelmed by the numbers, he said.

“The situation in Calais is totally unacceptable – the area is clearly in crisis,” Yarsley said, calling on the French and British governments to address the problem before someone was seriously injured or even killed.

Eurotunnel is due to meet with industry representatives, border forces and the International Road Transport Union in the coming weeks to try to tackle the problem.

The Eurotunnel spokesman John Keefe said the chaos on Friday was a “well-organised and orchestrated attempt” by people to enter Britain on one of the busiest days of the year for freight, with 6,000 to 7,000 trucks crossing.

“Opportunity-wise, they would have known that and clearly information is out there,” he said. “The security at the tunnel and the additional police meant they didn’t get to the tunnel. Clearly there was a level of orchestrating behind the events we saw.”

Drivers told the FTA’s national council in Ireland last week that many people were attempting to cross at ports in Dunkirk and Cherbourg, after crackdowns in Calais. “We are asking the Irish authorities to address this issue with their counterparts in France,” the general manager, Neil McDonnell, said.

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