Tunnel security measures 'too slow'

Scenes like this are common at the freight entrance

Freight companies have condemned the French authorities for doing too little, too late to stop asylum seekers entering Britain illegally through the Channel Tunnel.

The government had agreed to step up security with more patrols, by installing new CCTV cameras and completing fencing around the French entrance to the tunnel.

But the work at the Frethun freight tunnel will not be completed until November - and freight companies say this is not soon enough.

Britain's main rail freight operator EWS, which claims to have lost £30m over the past six months because of disruptions, said security should be fixed immediately.

You have to question the sense of urgency

Graham Smith, EWS

Planning director Graham Smith told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It seems quite remarkable that we've got to wait until November.

"A three-mile fence takes some considerable time to build, but we're only seeing policing 12 hours a day, and the asylum-seekers know that and they just stroll into the yard in the other 12 hours.

"The immediate action that's needed is round-the-clock policing.

Breach

"If the entire resources of the French Government cannot resolve this issue until November, you have to question the sense of urgency. "

France was told on Thursday by the European Commission that its failure to provide adequate security was in breach of European rules governing the free movement of goods.

Kent Labour MEP Mark Watts, who has been pressing the Commission to pursue legal action, said he wanted visible signs of change within days.

We will be watching [France] like a hawk

Kent MEP Mark Watts

He told Today: "We will be watching them like a hawk, and if they don't do something today, tomorrow and over the weekend we will be back for talks next week."

The talks between the French Government and the European Commission were held after EWS made an official complaint.

For the last six months, the French authorities have restricted the hours freight trains can run through the tunnel to the night, when they can guarantee the presence of police to deter asylum seekers.

EWS says it has only been running 25% of a normal service - with catastrophic effects on its business.

Expulsion

Spokesman Graham Meiklejohn said 1,500 asylum seekers had still made it into Britain on the trains in the last six months, so the policy had failed anyway.

The news comes a day after France welcomed new plans by Britain to deport thousands of failed asylum seekers before they can appeal.

The UK plans to send many of its unsuccessful asylum applicants back to the last country they came from - often France.

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said Mr Blunkett's proposals, which were attacked by refugee groups, were "true to the spirit of good collaboration".