Ashley continues: "Dave who drives for Inchape followed the Latvian registered Scania towards the M11 and phoned 999 as he went along. The Police told him they would 'ring him back'....meanwhile Dave caught the Scania up again near the M11 and this time got the registration number and again phoned the Police. Dave wanted to go north up the M11 but was so concerned about the men hanging out of the trailer he decided to follow it further. He got as far as Potters Bar before once again phoning '999' again. Now he was in Hertfordshire and was 'patched through' to the Police control room and his running commentary was passed to a fast patrol which was on the way to intercept."
Ashley goes on to say: "Dave said the expressions on the faces of the men who were still popping' their heads in and out of the trailer, were very stressed and the men looked very frightened. They even made gestures to Dave to try and get him to stop their truck! At the junction of the M25 and M1 Dave pulled into the middle lane in anticipation of the Latvian Scania continuing around the M25, but it turned off and onto the M1. Dave followed it!"
And what happened next? Well click through here to find out---and to learn how it was that the Crane King was on the spot with his camera!
Ashley continues the story: "With Dave still on the phone to the Police, there were now 2 patrol cars present and once they all got to junction 8 of the M1 at Hemel Hempstead, 'all hell was let loose' as Dave told me. Suddenly there were approximately 8 cars which joined the 'convoy'. The cars boxed the truck in and kept it moving along the M1. Then at Junction 9 (A5), the Police 'ushered' the Scania off the motorway and took it to the Watling Street truckstop which is where I was, filling up with fuel!"
"I heard a helicopter overhead, but never took any notice. It got louder and louder and then it was hovering very low directly above me! At the same time, the convoy rolled in and the Police stopped the Scania right in the middle of the lorry park. As I grabbed my camera I thought there were terrorists on board and to be honest, as I was literally parked next to the Scania, I got very scared! What if they had guns? This is NO made up story, I can assure you!"
"Police dogs were sent to the trailer and armed officers were also nearby! 2 officers grabbed the driver and pulled him from his cab, bundling him into a car.Then they went en masse, with dogs and an armed officer, to the rear of the Scania and opened the trailer doors."
"I met Dave Brown at the back of the Latvian trailer as he had pulled in to give a statement to the Police. We watched as first 1, then 2, then 3 men jumped out. It ended with 9 men in all being 'helped' out of the trailer. All the men were cuffed and escorted into separate cars."
"Speaking to one of the Police officers afterwards, he told me the reason for the high Police presence was that they didn't know how many or for that matter who was in the truck Last Wednesday they had stopped a truck at Potters Bar with just 1 car and found 30 men on board! They had no chance of catching them as they simply scattered. So the officer told me today, they were taking no chances!"
"I was astounded to hear that after all the effort by everyone to stop the truck and release the illegals', the chances of any of them being prosecuted was very slim. One police officer I spoke to explained that all that would happen is that the men would be photographed, have finger prints taken and be given instructions on how to find an 'immigration centre'.
There is no way to prove who the men are, how old they are, where they came from etc etc as none of them have any documents so they would not be prosecuted! So after all that time and 'effort' taken by Dave Brown and the Police to apprehend the truck I wonder what the end result will be ...?"
"Why oh why do illegals pass through French ports undetected? Surely something has to be done? Regards, Ashley." Amazing story Ash and Biglorryblog's thanks to Dave Brown too. It does ,make you wonder whatb will happen to these people, wether they'll be deported, or whether they even report to an immigration centre.
It reminds me of a similar experience I had a couple of years back driving up the M20 when I found myself following a artic reefer with people inside---we finally got it stopped at Clackett Lane and found close a dozen men women and children inside. How difficult can it be to search each truck before it leaves France for the UK?
BLB
Our 'NEW Border Guard agency people'I deal with them every week,f.............g useless and WE pay their wages.
The Boss
from the outside looking in,it's almost amusing,but talk to the guys who cross the channel several times every week and the reality is that it,s a major problem that in my opinion will only get worse.these desperate people will stop at nothing to get into the u.k.the recent incident i mentioned on the blog involving my mate and 5 illegals who cut an "L" shape gash in the front left corner of the sliding roof euroliner then jumped down.that,s a drop of nearly 4 metres!
Its,obvious these people entered the country illeagly.Surely, it should be simple enough to send them back to where they come from. If they do not coopreate then let them cool off in the scrubs or strangeways, then deport them.
Why,should these people be given anything, they have never paid into the system and never will.They do not deserve a hand out which will further drain the country's resources and threaten those jobs,most are fighting to keep.
What ever happened to law and order. Its obvious French border control is not working, whats wrong with the U.K. side surely if they are not doing their job, it will be a matter of time before they are replaced,by these illegals,at half their wages.
The border checks at Calais seemed rather meticulous to me when I was there two weeks ago. However, some of these people, miraculously, make it thru. While waiting to board one of the ferries to Dover I witnessed myself how British Immigration officials work and how they caught an Asian immigrant at Calais. This young stow-away (no older than 17) was taken off a Polish truck. My question is, what is it that makes the UK so much more popular for illegal immigrants than other European countries? If that were changed, surely there wouldn't be as many of them trying to make it to the UK?