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French cops promise to proted Brits at Calais
Page 6
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Following the attack on two British drivers at Calais, the French promise to take action — but not everyone is convinced. David Harris reports.
THE FRENCH POLICE have finally agreed to provide better protection for UK drivers facing attacks from would-be illegal immigrants near Calais.
The Foreign Office has told Cohn Minister, who was attacked last November, that the French police have "put into action a strategy to address attacks such as the one you encountered".
Minister, who works for Doverbased John BywaterTransport,and owner-driver Darren Mayer were both hospitalised after being punched,kicked and bitten by men with iron bars (CM 23 November 2006). The thieves escaped with personal possessions including money, mobile phones and laptops.
The French authorities were criticised for inaction following the attack, which left Minister and Mayer facing an anxious wait for blood test results to check they had not contracted any diseases from their bite wounds.
Minister's employer remains unhappy with the way the case was dealt with. Anna Bywater says: "The French police basically abandoned our driver. He was able to get to a petrol station and get someone to ring them, hut when they came they just told him that they could do nothing and that he should report it to UK police."
It remains unclear why the French police refused to deal with a crime committed on French soil. The UK police have no authority to deal with crimes in Calais.
Calais police chief Patrick Espagnol told the British Consul that Minister had chosen not to register a complaint about the attack.Minister dismisses this as "rubbish". When Kent Police contacted the French they were told the Calais police had achieved"rio concrete results".
Now the French police are claiming that they do not even have a record of the assault on Mayer, who was attacked with an iron bar as he sat in his cab. • UK police have advised UK drivers to stay away from the Dunes area of Calais as this can make them an "easy target" for violent foreign nationals who either want to get aboard trucks to enter the UK, or simply want to vent their frustration on drivers at not being able to do so.