Since the opening in 1994 of the Channel Tunnel, which connects France and Great Britain, Calais has become a transit route for illegal immigrants trying to reach the UK.
In recent years, the problem has worsened. There are thousands of "stowaways" in a radius of 200 km around the city of Calais. If any of these people enter the truck and they are detected when in UK territory, the fine for the carrier can amount to 3,500 Euro per immigrant, with the consequent destruction of all cargo and the arrest of the driver, which can be questioned for several hours and forced to prove his/her innocence.
Waiting times for the train reach up to four or five hours, a period of time used by immigrants to force the doors of trucks and climb on top of the pallets with goods. They also tend to take advantage of the mandatory rest stops, and while drivers try to stop far from the usual areas, this is not enough, since the problem is spreading also to more remote cities.
Some Belgian and Dutch companies perform CO2 measurements or motion detection scans to their trailers to check for the presence of immigrants in the trucks.
North African stowaways have traditionally been the most common, but now there are also Yugoslavs and Albanians. Sometimes there are whole families trying to get into the truck.
In the UK there is a great concern about this matter, which has been debated even in Parliament.
It is a humanitarian problem, but it also causes serious economic consequences for carriers.
In recent weeks and months, videos have been uploaded showing these activities, where police use hard measures to prevent them.
