French lorry drivers have threatened to block the entry of goods into the UK unless checks aimed at preventing the arrival of migrants are more lenient.

France’s main transport federation has complained that border force checks to ensure migrants do not hide in French trucks and HGVs are too harsh.

The National Road Transport Federation even calls itself “victims”.

If controls are not made less strict, they threaten to block all goods entering Britain from France.

The federation’s president, David Sagnard, told local French media: “I have colleagues who are being ordered to pay fines to the British, which can reach 12,000 pounds (14,482 euros) for the driver and 12,000 books for the carrier.

“We find ourselves with drivers who no longer want to go to England.

“The British impose a certain number of checkpoints, seals and security cables on us. Everything must be checked every time the truck stops.

“But migrants can get by in a downturn.

France’s main transport federation has complained that Border Force checks to ensure migrants do not hide in French trucks and HGVs are too harsh (photo: A view of trucks waiting to go to United Kingdom at the Calais border)

Nearly £10 million in fines were handed out to hauliers last year after migrants were found (pictured: Migrants are helped ashore by an RNLI lifeboat at Dungeness)

“We cannot be treated like we are today, we are the victims. The British do not want to continue listening to the dismay of our members. If they continue, we will bring them in, blocking the border. No more goods will arrive in England.

Thousands of people still make the truck journey to Britain every year.

Alp Mehmet, chair of Migrant Watch UK, said: “This is shocking. What gives them the right to make these threats and demands?

“They wouldn’t dare do that.”

Retail expert Paul Dyer said such a move would cause “chaos”.

He said: “I sincerely hope this is an empty threat because it would cause chaos. This would seriously hit the economy.

Lorry drivers caught with migrants face £10,000 fine.

Nearly £1 million in fines were handed out to hauliers last year after migrants were discovered. The Home Office said 1,276 sanctions were issued in 2023/24.

It comes after analysts from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed last month that 906,000 people were added to the UK population in the year ending June 2023.

That was 166,000 — or 22 percent — more than the agency’s initial tally, which was itself a record high.

ONS bosses are yet to update their estimates for each authority, meaning actual immigration levels could be even higher than initially thought.

Extremely high levels of immigration meant that parts of the capital welcomed up to 240 extra residents per square kilometer last year, putting even greater pressure on housing, schools and the struggling NHS.

Ministers were also urged to introduce tougher testing to weed out growing numbers of migrants posing as children.

Under a law passed by the Conservatives earlier this year, the Home Office has the power to carry out scientific checks on those who cross the Channel in dinghies and claim to be under 18.

Authorities may use X-rays to inspect the teeth or hands, legs and collarbones of new arrivals to determine their true age and ensure adults are not wrongly treated as children and placed in schools.

But these tests have not yet been used and it is unclear whether the Labor government will ever allow them, with immigration officials currently giving migrants the benefit of the doubt unless the individual “has the looks and behaves much older than 18.”

The OBR’s assessment published last month highlighted that Home Office visa data covering the second quarter of 2024 showed a “sharp” decline

It comes despite Immigration Minister Dame Angela Eagle admitting that one in five people arriving in Britain by small boat now claim to be a child and that the “signal has been sent” that this means that they can “get a better deal”.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, who served as immigration minister in Boris Johnson’s administration, told the Mail: “The Home Office must urgently implement a scientific assessment of age.

“I started this process four years ago and the regulations came into effect in January. Labor must implement them immediately because we are the only European country not to use scientific age assessment.

“Our system is regularly abused by illegal immigrants falsely claiming to be under 18. This is an abuse of our system, putting pressure on services and leading to protection risks when young men are placed in care. in a school environment.”

A senior border source confirmed: “It goes without saying that people are laughing at the system.

“When a 23-year-old is being taught alongside 13-year-old pupils, this obviously leads to a safeguarding nightmare.

“But officials who are governed by the requirements of the Children Act must always err on the side of caution. And many migrants are perfectly aware of this.”