Migrant gang leave British lorry driver bloodied after smashing his window with a rock – with footage showing group armed with projectiles terrorising drivers
- Andy Couper, 57, was left with blood pouring down his face after being attacked
- Separate video was filmed by another lorry driver, Greg West
- Showed a group of migrants opening the rear door of the truck in front
- They were seen throwing projectiles at Mr West’s vehicle and heard banging on it
A gang of 15 migrants left a British lorry driver bloodied after smashing the window of his cab with a rock while he waited in a queue in Calais.
Andy Couper, 57, was left with blood pouring down his face after being attacked by the gang while waiting in his vegetable-filled lorry to board a ferry at the French port.
He told The Telegraph how some of the migrants tried to get into his lorry before ‘someone hit the truck’ and the ‘whole passenger window’ was smashed, leaving him injured.
Highlighting the increasing dangers hauliers are facing, a separate video filmed by another lorry driver, Greg West, showed a group of migrants opening the rear door of the truck in front before they were seen throwing projectiles at Mr West’s vehicle.
A video filmed by another lorry driver, Greg West, showed a group of migrants opening the rear door of the truck in front before they were seen throwing projectiles at Mr West’s vehicle
The Road Haulage Association told The Telegraph that migrants had started threatening drivers with violence in the hope of bullying them into taking them across the Channel.
Traffickers are reportedly exploiting migrants’ fears it will be harder to get to the UK after Britain leaves the single market on December 31.
Speaking of the moment he was attacked, Mr Couper said he could ‘sense’ someone was trying to get into his lorry while he waited to board a ferry.
He said he looked down and saw ’15 of them laughing at me.’
Mr Couper said his window was then smashed before the migrants tried to get into his cab.
He said he drove off ‘slowly’ with his hand on his vehicle’s horn in the hope of attracting attention, ‘but there are no police’, he added.
The haulier said migrants are ‘running riot’ around Calais and concluded that ‘one day someone will get killed.’
In Mr West’s video, he was heard laughing in his cab as a group of around 11 migrants appeared from the space next to the lorry which was ahead of him in a queue in Calais.
The group, all of whom were dressed in black and wore hats and scarves, were seen opening the door of the leading lorry before turning to Mr West’s vehicle.
One of the men then picked up a projectile at the floor and threw it at his windscreen before another repeated the aggressive act with a different item.
Mr West later wrote on his Facebook page above his video: ‘Welcome to the daily calais grind, if you want to know why we don’t care too much for these people in our country here is a good reason why.’
Paul Mummery, press executive at the RHA, said there was an ‘upsurge’ in migrant-related problems because there is ‘more desperation’ to get to the UK as soon as possible.
The Road Haulage Association told The Telegraph that migrants had started threatening drivers with violence in the hope of bullying them into taking them across the Channel
He said attacks are part of the ‘intimidation’ process aimed at getting lorry drivers to let migrants into the backs of their vehicles.
As well as migrants coming in trucks, many are also reaching the UK in small boats.
More than 8,500 are estimated to have successfully entered the country this year – up from 1,850 last year.
Last month, Home Secretary Priti Patel unveiled a £28million agreement with her French counterpart aimed at reducing the number of migrants reaching the UK in small boats.
In Mr West’s video, he was heard laughing in his cab as a group of around 11 migrants appeared from the space next to the lorry which was ahead of him in a queue in Calais