Innocent driver is held for 27 hours by French police
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• A British driver was held by French police last week for more than 27 hours after reporting that illegal immigrants were hiding in his trailer.
Andy Holt of David Howe Transport realised his trailer had been tampered with when he stopped at the Pidou cashand-carry in Calais.
"I'd stopped on the way home to buy a few beers, but when I opened the trailer to put them in I saw all these faces peering at me," says Holt. "I locked it up and phoned the police."
French police arrested 26 Albanians, but then hauled Holt into custody. He was refused permission to use his phone or secure his load, which was left open overnight. He adds that the police were "less than pleasant" and offered him nothing to drink during his ordeal.
The next morning, without explanation, apology or thanks, Holt was released and returned to his vehicle. To add injury to insult he discovered that his cab had been hit by another vehicle, causing £1,000-worth of damage. The load was intact.
Holt believes that the illegal immigrants were loaded into his trailer by organised criminals at the BP station at Aarnst in Belgium, where he had stopped overnight. "They broke the seal and super-glued it back," he says.
Holt's boss, David Howe, is livid: "While my driver was banged up in conditions not fit for an animal, the lorry load was open for all and sundry to help themselves," he says.