The Asylum Fiasco

Had a day trip to France today with my family, to stock up on goodies in the run up to Christmas. Really bumpy crossing to Calais, but more than made for by great lunch and cheap wine!

On driving back to the ferry at Calais though, we encountered a lorry jam which stretched for miles. We must have sat for over an hour before we got moving again.

Yet as we did, a strange thing happened. Four young men in hoodies and with scarves over their faces appeared from the darkness at the side of the road, and, running along behind the lorry ahead of us, opened its back doors. Two men clambered inside the back, the other two duly closed and locked the doors and ran back into the shadows.

We watched transfixed, as someone in the next lane called across and indicated to the driver that he had just been boarded, and that there were two people in the back of his truck.

And so it was that on a foul night, in high winds and driving rain., this innocent lorry driver had to pull over, climb out of his cab, open his back doors and begin shouting to his illegal passengers to get out. I assume that if this failed he'd have to climb in and remove them physically, not knowing whether they were armed or not.

And of course, if he drove into Dover with them on board - even if he wasn't aware they had climbed aboard as he drove along - our Government would have fined him £2,500 for each one. That's probably as much if not more than he would have made from the whole trip anyway.

Isn't it time our governments just got together and resolved the asylum fiasco?