A PAIR of illegal immigrants targeted a coach on a school trip to France to get across the English Channel – after a surge in stowaway journeys.
The two of asylum seekers – one thought to be a child – climbed into the luggage compartment as the bus brought back 50 children from a day trip to Bolougne on Friday.
The migrants were found at Birchanger Green Welcome Break service station on the M11[/caption]
They remained hidden from Border Force officials at Dover and remained in the storage section of the coach until it stopped at Birchanger Green Welcome Break service station on the M11.
Year 7 pupils and teachers are said to have heard noises from the bottom of the coach, prompting the driver to pull over and stop.
Two illegal immigrants, including a child, are said to have emerged from the vehicle and remained at the service station until they were detained by police shortly before 10pm.
The students, from a small secondary school in Cambridgeshire, were taken inside the halt and told the coach had suffered an engine failure.
It took an hour for the children to be allowed back on the coach so the journey home could resume.
A parent of one of the children on board said: “The children were really tired because they had been up at 3am, and they were meant to get home at 10pm.
“Because of the hold-up to arrest the migrants, they didn’t get back until well after 11pm.
“It’s a total shock because they could have been any two people.
“Thankfully they did not try to do anything, but I feel uneasy knowing they were close to my child.”
An Essex Police spokeswoman confirmed: “We were alerted to concerns for the welfare of two people discovered under a bus on the M11 near Stansted on Friday evening.
“Officers were called out to a rest stop shortly before 10pm.
“One person has been taken into police custody, while one is being referred to social care.”
It comes after we revealed 13 migrants targeted a lorry delivering supplies to a Sainsbury’s distribution centre last week.
Figures show there were 5,874 detections of illegal immigrants at ports on the continent, including Calais, Dunkirk and the Channel Tunnel in Coquelles.
It is a rise of 22 per cent compared with 4,794 in 2023.
While migrants crossing the Channel are easily recorded, lorry stowaways may reach the UK undetected.
Many go on to obtain illegal cash-in-hand work or claim asylum and be housed in a hotel.
Last night the Home Office said it was investigating how the pair evaded border control.
A spokeswoman said: “We are relentless in our pursuit of people-smuggling gangs and stand ready to respond to all methods, including coaches and other clandestine routes, using a wide range of techniques and technology to protect our border security.”
A pair of illegal immigrants targeted a coach on a school trip to France to get across the English Channel[/caption]
