Extra sniffer dogs and fencing are to be offered to Calais officials to
help them deal with high numbers of migrants trying to reach the UK, the
PM says.
David Cameron spoke to
French President Francois Hollande on the telephone on Friday and said
the pair had agreed to work to tackle illegal immigration.
The PM has warned the situation will be a "difficult issue" throughout summer.
There have been thousands of attempts by migrants to access the Eurotunnel terminal, affecting train services.
The
crisis has led to major congestion on both sides of the Channel, with
passenger services disrupted and 6,000 lorries parked in queues along
the M20 in Kent as part of Operation Stack.
Ministers said they
were considering setting up temporary lorry parks to ease the pressure
on roads, but the Road Haulage Association said the measures were not
enough.
And there were further problems in Calais on Friday when
former MyFerryLink workers protesting against job cuts blocked road
access to the port area by burning tyres.
Ferry workers burned tyres on a road leading to the port of Calais
Extra French police
On
Friday evening, Downing Street said the prime minister and Mr Hollande
had "both expressed concern about the immediate security challenges and
reiterated their commitment to continue working closely together to
tackle the problems".
"Both
leaders agreed on the need to work with Eurotunnel to monitor and
secure the area and for respective ministers to continue discussions
over the coming days to implement additional measures that could further
improve the situation on the ground."
Speaking earlier after he
chaired a meeting of the government's Cobra emergency committee, Mr
Cameron said the provision of extra French police at the Eurotunnel site
had already had "some effect" on disruption.
Media captionDavid Cameron: ''We need to do more to help lorry drivers and holiday makers''
Fencing
supplied by the UK government earlier this month is being put up around
the platforms where vehicles board the Eurotunnel shuttle and the work
is expected to be completed in the coming days.
But Mr Cameron
said the government would "further boost security by funding additional
fencing to shore up as much of the perimeter as necessary. More Border
Force search and dog teams will also be sent in."
He said: "We rule nothing out in dealing with this very serious problem."
The
UK is offering to replace green mesh fencing at the Eurotunnel entrance
perimeter in Coquelles, near Calais, with solid fencing of the type
normally seen at Nato summits.
Calais migrant crisis
Impact on Kent council social services
629
the number of unaccompanied children seeking asylum that require care from Kent county council
220 the equivalent number in March 2014
£5.5m funding shortfall according to the council
Meanwhile, Operation Stack - in which lorries queue on the M20 when Channel crossings are disrupted - is expected to continue into the weekend.
Ministry
of Defence sources suggested land could be released for an alternative
lorry park to help ease the backlog - but they dismissed reports that
service personnel were poised to play any significant role.
Potential
locations under discussions included the disused Manston Airport, in
Kent, and Ebbsfleet International train station in north Kent.
Travel latest
M20 closed coast-bound from J8 to J11 for the Operation Stack freight queue
The wait for lorries in the stack is up to five hours to Dover ferry port and three hours to Eurotunnel
BBC travel information Calais crisis: Advice for travellers But
Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, said
Mr Cameron's proposals were "not enough" and the situation was "out of
control".
"They are just sticking plasters in terms of trying to resolve this problem," he told BBC News.
UKIP
leader Nigel Farage told BBC Radio Leeds freight could start moving
again quickly if lorries were diverted to other ports, such as Ramsgate,
and travelled via Belgium. Former
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told BBC Radio 4's The World At One that
the Schengen agreement - which allows border-free travel throughout
Europe - was "only ever going to work in good times... You now see the
price that Europe is paying".
At the scene
Lucy Williamson, BBC correspondent, in Calais
After
dark, the nature of Calais' challenge becomes clear. Hundreds of
migrants walking together along the highway that leads to the Tunnel
site.
To get there they need to cross several fences and avoid security patrols.
Well before midnight, groups of several dozen were struggling under the freshly repaired fencing along Calais' railway line.
Some
here have been discouraged by the growing number of police and
television cameras. "The mood just doesn't feel right", one man told me.
But their long term goals remain and all the signs are that this
week's new challenges - larger groups of migrants, better organised
incursions - are becoming Calais's new routine. What happens to UK asylum seekers?
Young migrants
The
fourth night of disruption came as UK police and social services
struggled to cope with the impact of events across the Channel.
Kent
County Council asked Home Office officials for support in dealing with
the arrival of hundreds of young migrants in Dover. In the last three
months, the number of under-18 asylum seekers in the care of the council
has doubled to 629.
Police officers from neighbouring forces have also been deployed to Kent to help with Operation Stack.
Two migrants clinging to the roof of a lorry as it emerged from the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone, Kent
Eurotunnel says incursions are now a nightly occurrence
Thousands of lorries remain on the M20 in Kent
Are you in Calais? Are you affected by the issues raised in this story? Please email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experiences.
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