MEP's concerns over 'Sangatte 2'

Refugees at Sangatte tried to get through the Channel Tunnel

An MEP has written to the French government raising his concerns over the prospect of what has been dubbed a "Sangatte 2" centre in Calais.

Richard Ashworth, Conservative MEP for the South East, asked French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy to intervene.

The Mayor of Calais said there would be no sleeping facilities at the centre and so it would not "be like Sangatte".

But Mr Ashworth fears rough sleepers in Calais will use the new information centre to try to get into the UK.

The original Sangatte refugee camp near the French port was shut in 2002, after claims in the UK that it was used as a base for illegal immigration.

A new centre will offer food, showering facilities and information and advice for about 400 foreign nationals who sleep rough in Calais.

Lorry driver robbed

Mr Ashworth said: "Of course homeless people in Calais deserve to be able to access information and key services, but a single dedicated centre like this will just become a magnet for people-traffickers and a starting point for organised efforts to enter the UK unlawfully.

"I can see it rapidly turning into Sangatte 2."

A spokesman for the Mayor of Calais previously said: "It won't be an asylum centre, it's a place where they can go for information, not to sleep."

Mr Ashworth has also asked Mr Sarkozy to investigate reports that "British lorry drivers are finding it necessary to arm themselves when parking in Calais at night".

Lorry driver Colin Minister, from Folkestone, Kent, told the BBC on Monday how he was robbed by four men armed with an iron bar.