This is the moment a shocked family found three ‘stowaways’ hiding inside their trailer in Calais.
Footage shows the family gathered around the back of the trailer in a supermarket car park before two young men leap out.
The driver then roots around with a stick to see if he can find anyone else and is seen shouting ‘out’ before a third man jumps out onto the tarmac.
The Mail has confirmed that the footage, which was posted by a social media page that shares content relating to Travellers, was filmed by the Auchan supermarket in Calais.
The vehicle bore the logo of a landscaping business called Luxury Lawns.
A senior police source in Paris said: ‘It looks like the video was shot around Calais in August, when the weather was warmer.
‘These kind of incidents involving migrants heading for Britain are all too common.’
Drivers can be fined up to £10,000 if an illegal migrant is found hiding in their vehicle even if they had no knowledge of their existence.
Footage shows the family gathered around the back of the trailer in a supermarket car park before two young men leap out
The family are seen inspecting other compartments in their vehicles to see if they can find any more stowaways
Officials have handed out more than £30million in penalties over just a year and a half – demonstrating the huge scale of the problem.
Around 5,000 ‘clandestine entrants’ were found last year at the UK land border in Calais, Coquelles and Dunkirk, according to a report by the immigration and borders watchdog.
Inevitably, others would have managed to evade checks.
The new video from Calais is a reminder of the issue of migrants hiding in cars and lorries at a time public attention is focused on small boat crossings.
Recent victims of the issue include Paul and Kerry Turton, who were returning from holiday when the man forced his way into a locked storage cupboard at Calais.
The couple were driving home to Beeston in Nottinghamshire in August when they noticed the migrant trying to open the door.
Mrs Turton called 999 and was heard telling an operator: ‘He’s opening the door… he’s getting out.
‘I’m being quite brave but I’ll probably have a nervous breakdown in a minute.
‘We’ve come from Calais, we checked and double checked and we can’t understand how he’s done it.’
Paul and Kerry Turton were returning from holiday in August when a migrant forced his way into a locked storage cupboard at Calais
A video captured the moment the illegal migrant was arrested by police
Joanne and Adrian Fenton were ordered to pay £1,500 by the Home Office when they reported a migrant clinging to the back of their motorhome
The migrant is arrested by police at the couple’s garage. Their fine was later revoked
Officers surrounded the camper at South Mimms services at Junction 23 of the M25 and an 18-year-old man was arrested by immigration officials.
Despite locking the compartment before setting off, reporting the incident and cooperating with the police to ensure he was detained, Mr and Mrs Turton may still be fined for carrying the unnamed man into the UK.
Earlier this year, another couple were fined after a migrant hid on their motorhome and was not spotted by border force.
Adrian and Joanne Fenton said they called police when they found the person zipped inside the cover of a bike rack at their home in Heybridge, Essex, in October.
They later received a £1,500 penalty from the Home Office for failing to ‘check that no clandestine entrant was concealed’ in the motorhome when they returned from Calais on October 15.
The Home Office said penalties were ‘designed to target negligence rather than criminality’.
But after the couple appealed and following public outrage and widespread media coverage the fine was cancelled.
The graph compares the number of migrants found trying to sneak into the country on vehicles and those arriving by small boat
The number of referrals for fines under the Clandestine Entrant Civil Penalty Scheme
Mrs Fenton said she was ‘ecstatic’ about the Home Office’s change of heart but the couple remained concerned about others who might be hit with a similar penalty.
‘How many more people are going to get caught out exactly the same?’ she said.
Mr Fenton said the Home Office should ‘be looking at their policy and make sure that it’s fit for purpose and not targeting holidaymakers’.
Another way illegal migrants are moved into the UK on ferries involves people smugglers hiding them into their cars before they leap out mid-way through the voyage and sneak into lorries.
Migrants stowing away in lorries typically board them in northern France before remaining hidden until the vehicle has entered Britain.
But the updated method, apparently pioneered by Albanian gangs, was described by one convicted people smuggler as ‘easy’ and ‘low risk’ because it only requires the smuggler to sneak their client onto the ferry inside the boot of their car.
Once the smuggler has got to the ferry’s car deck, the migrant jumps out of the vehicle and gets into a lorry, typically by slicing through the tarpaulin.
The smuggler then passes the lorry’s number plate to an associate in the UK who trails the vehicle after it leaves Dover and collects the migrant once it stops.
The lorry driver has no idea of their involvement, but risks being fined up to £10,000 if the stowaway is found in their vehicle by officials.
The Mail has contacted the Home Office for comment.
