Mobile unit to tackle stowaways

The response unit can also be used to take immigrants into detention

More than 250 illegal immigrants have been caught being smuggled on lorries in the East Midlands in one year.

The UK Border Agency revealed the figure during trials of a new fast response vehicle which is being used at service stations on the M1.

The unit has two holding cells, a fingerprint machine and computers so an individual's status can be checked.

Officials said the region had been chosen as it was a popular rest point for drivers coming from the channel.

The agency said they were often called by the police, and the unit would allow them to hold people while their details were checked.

I eventuallly made a charge at them to get rid of them, when one of them pulled a knife Brian Thompson, lorry driver

The trial, due to last several weeks, has begun with the immigration staff offering advice to drivers and raising the vehicle's profile.

Phil Dyer, of the UK Border Agency said: "There are organised gangs putting people on to these lorries on the continent and then they are being brought over to the UK.

"So in some instances they are being hidden under deep cover in these lorries, sometimes with the connivance of the drivers but again often without their knowledge."

But driver Brian Thompson said some immigrants posed a threat if disturbed.

"I was [putting diesel] in my truck up a few weeks ago in Calais and I was confronted by two immigrants trying to get on my trailer.

"I chased them off and they started lifting up stones and throwing them at me and I eventually made a charge at them to get rid of them, when one of them pulled a knife."