Getting Out Of Control.

[TWR]

We have all seen the news regards the Port of Calais, is it fair on the HGV drivers that are trying to do their jobs and getting involved, with the Duty of the French Port Authorities? why should these drivers be intimidated by these People, who is responsible to remove the people from the Port?

[sandyRoe]

They want out of France and I'd guess the French won't be trying too hard to keep them. There seems no easy answer to this.

[Tilly2]

A bit of an aside, and probably a daft question but........

How do they get into the locked lorries without the drivers knowing?

[mikey4444]

Tilly...good question ! I said as much 2 days ago. The TV reports showed how easy it was for hoards of people to just open the rear doors and get into the back of the lorries. Why was it so easy to open the doors ?

[Tilly2]

Perhaps the back doors don't lock.

[mikey4444]

Tilly...well, perhaps they should lock ! This business of immigrants lurking in Calais didn't start a couple of days ago....its been going on for many years.

It would entirely sensible to expect that these lorries should be far more secure than they appear to be at the moment.

[Tilly2]

I agree entirely, Mikey. That would seem to be obvious, wouldn't it?

[mikey4444]

Not obvious enough to the haulage industry apparently Tilly !

[sandyRoe]

There needs to be more thorough searches of the lorries before they roll onto the ferries. That would take time, and add to costs, but the stowaways would soon learn that way of getting into the UK was closed to them.

[Tilly2]

There must be an explanation. Where has TWR gone? He must know.

[Tilly2]

Sandy, that makes sense but it doesn't explain how they get in there in the first place.

[TWR]

Tilly, a Box Trailer is only opened by the back, you can not access any other way, the back two doors have two locking bars that should be locked by a secure lock, these people smash the lock off to gain entry, a Curtain sided trailer has a Cord the runs through the locking straps of each side of the trailer and meets at the back doors & should be depending on the load, custom sealed, it like joining a ball point pen top to the pen base, the dislodge the seal, get inside then someone on the outside re seals the device, to the eye it looks sealed, on close inspection, it's not.

[sandyRoe]

Some trailers have fabric sides. The locks on some lorries might be broken off and once the stowaways are in they'd be replaced.
There have been cases of fatalities when people who have tried balancing on the axles have fallen off.

[Tilly2]

Thanks, TWR. So, the driver can tell if he has stowaways?

[douglas9401]

'So, the driver can tell if he has stowaways?'

Not if he doesn't see the door opening. He's yards away with only mirrors to see up the sides, not the rear, and there's always the small matter of piloting 44 tonnes of vehicle in confined spaces.
Concentration may be elsewhere.

[Tilly2]

Good point, Douglas. You would think there would be some kind of alarm system, though.

[TWR]

To a point Tilly, depends on the type of load, these people have been seen inside Tractor Tyres, Inside Machines, any available space they will go for it, the load consist of food & they are found, that load could be contaminated &en Scrapped, that load could have come from anywhere, Spain, To Russia, this is not normally disclosed to the public, these people live like pigs & act like pigs, They p.......I........s.. & No2 anywhere, they should be cleared out by the French & Forcibly return to the Boarding Area, that' Spain.

[TWR]

On Douglas is point, there should be a sensor incorporated in the Drivers's cab to indicate entry, but why should the Driver put himself / herself in this position when It's the French at fault?

[Baldric]

Am not sure where the 'Duty of the French Port Authorities' comes into it.
The so-called refugees are outside the Port on the roads of Calais trying to board lorries to get to the UK, surely the roads come under the jurisdiction of the French Police.
The Mayor of Calais spouting all that rubbish about 'The English hate us' is just that, Rubbish!
His Government signed the Schengen Agreement allowing free movement into their Country, we have not signed it, it is the duty of the French to secure their Channel Border NOT ours.

[TWR]

We agree for once.

[vulcan42]

These people are organised and have it all planned. They lie down in the road to stop the vehicle. the lock is either smashed or cut with bolt cutters, they pile on board and another person who stays behind puts on another lock, giving the appearance the the vehicle hasn't been broken into. They carry knives and slash their way in by jumping onto vehicles from bridges, ( the French police are now putting razor wire on the bridges to try and stop this), but a lot of vehicles have canvas roofs and it's easy to gain entry.