Correspondent John Leyne: "Heathrow Airport is jam-packed with asylum-seekers"

They say they need help because they have been attacked by racist skinheads in their own countries.

The Immigration Service says more people are expected to arrive on flights from Prague on Friday night.

One immigration lawyer, who declined to be named, told reporters the gypsies had been offered little support so far.

A Home Office spokesman told BBC News Online the gypsies would not be detained.

'They will be allowed to stay'

He said: "They will be briefly interviewed, to obtain their names, dates of birth, etcetera, and then they will be granted temporary admission.

Nick Hardwick, chief executive of the Refugee Council: "We want them dealt with speedily"

"Most have not got any relatives or contacts in this country and will be dealt with by the Refugee Arrival Project at Heathrow."

The spokesman said they would then be put into contact with social services, who would have to find them accommodation.

He said: "Czechs and Slovaks do not require visas to enter the UK so as long as they had valid tickets and passports then the airlines who brought them to this country have discharged their responsibilities."

The spokesman said the influx was not the largest daily invasion - that came in 1986 when thousands of asylum-seekers arrived at Heathrow from Bangladesh.

Applications taking up to a year to process

The Home Office is currently taking up to a year to process political asylum applications.

In the mean time asylum-seekers are entitled to social security benefits but are not allowed to work for at least six months.

A spokesman for Hillingdon social services, who cover Heathrow, said: "We have not had anyone referred to us.

"We mainly deal with young people who arrive alone at Heathrow. We are currently looking after 174 of those at a cost of £2m a year."