Freight services in the UK and elsewhere may well be interested to hear that the Freight Transport Association (FTA) has issued a call for the migrant camp in Calais to be moved further away from the port in order to stop attacks on truck drivers as they try to cross the Channel.
In the last 12 months, the size of the camp in question has grown from 600 migrants to 6,000, with the number of drivers fined for carrying stowaways more than tripling in three years.
A new camp is being proposed at Dunkirk but the idea has been criticised by head of policy for London and the south-east with the FTA Natalie Chapman, who described it as madness.
“There is undoubtedly a humanitarian crisis here and genuine refugees should be treated with respect and have their cases properly processed. However, the Calais camp is far too close to the road and the port, putting our members’ livelihoods – and indeed their lives – at risk,” she said.
Migrants at the Calais Jungle camp, as it has become known, have now been given two days to move before one-third of the site is bulldozed. Some 1,500 people have refused to move into a new £20 million camp because it looks like a prison. The camp is due to be levelled on Thursday (January 14th), but local government orders appear to have been ignored.
In a statement, the community leaders of the camp urged the authorities to understand their situation and respect their fundamental human rights.
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