UK and France 'must tackle asylum'

Asylum seekers jump on Channel Tunnel freight trains

Britain and France must do more to tackle attempts by illegal immigrants to reach the UK through the Channel Tunnel, Europe Minister Peter Hain has said.

Mr Hain brought up the subject in a meeting with the French Ambassador to Britain, Daniel Bernard, on Wednesday.

After the meeting he said he looked forward to working on the problem with the new French government, following the re-election of President Jacques Chirac.

Freight operators want more security from French police

"One issue we need to tackle on both sides of the Channel is illegal immigration and people-smuggling through the Channel Tunnel."

He and Mr Bernard discussed the "continuing problems" at the SNCF rail freight yard at Calais-Frethun, "about which the UK has serious concerns".

"The ambassador agreed that the problems had to be tackled urgently. I said that the situation was becoming intolerable for both Britain and France.

"The recent election results in France showed how extremists could exploit the situation.

"We agreed that there would be a high-level meeting between the two governments to address the issue in the coming weeks."

EWS complaint

The problem of immigrants trying to reach Britain through the Channel Tunnel has been a problem between Britain and France since the tunnel opened in 1994.

The problem had been centred on Coquelles, the terminal run by Eurotunnel in northern France.

The ambassador agreed the problems had to be tackled urgently

Peter Hain

But after Eurotunnel spent about £5m on improving security, the problem shifted to nearby Frethun, the freight terminal used by UK operator EWS and French partner SNCF.

On Tuesday EWS made a formal complaint to the European Commission about the disruption to services caused by the failure of the French authorities to address the issue.

It claimed France was breaching its obligation to allow free trade across Europe, by cutting the number of trains by 60% because of attempts by asylum-seekers to climb on board.

It believes the French police should provide enough security around the terminal to allow the trains to run.

The problem of stowaways is costing EWS an estimated £500,000 a week, and the company has warned it is "on the rocks" financially.