A Stoke-on-Trent-based HGV driver was left hospitalised with a head wound after stowaways brutally attacked him in Dunkirk.
IRF (International Road Freight) employee 55-year-old Brian Glover, was parked near a supermarket on Wednesday 20 January when he was struck from behind by illegal immigrants he had seen earlier in the day trying to tamper with his trailer.
"I was hit on the back of my head with a metal pole, which knocked me to the floor," Glover tells Commercial Motor. "There was blood streaming down my face." As a result, he needed five stitches.
Glover was told by French police that arrests were unlikely because the offenders had run off.
While this is the first time an IRF employee has been attacked, the firm's transport manager, Alan Dale, reveals the business has previously been fined by the UK Border Agency for harbouring clandestines. "Our drivers are all trained to do checks, but stowaways always manage to find a way to enter a truck. It seems to be happening more often now. I honestly don't know what the solution is," Dale says.
Several readers of Roadtransport.com's Lorry Crime Blog have commented on the story, including Mark Jones, operations manager at Powys-based Speed Distribution: "These immigrants have travelled through many Western European countries, so maybe the UK should ask these countries why they are able to pass through so easily."