HGV driver clears Calais migrant gang off lorry bound for Britain

Trucker exposes migrant gang’s bid to sneak into Britain: Driver films man trying to distract him at Calais petrol station… then catches pair climbing on his HGV

• EXCLUSIVE: Lorry driver caught migrants trying to climb into his truck at Calais
• He caught them on video climbing between truck and cabin and told them to go

A no-nonsense HGV driver filmed the moment he foiled a migrant gang’s plan to distract him while they climbed onto his truck bound for Britain – even sarcastically waving goodbye as they skulked away.

The father, who says he has legally changed his name to ‘Plank’, had stopped to get fuel near Calais, France, last month when he became suspicious of the intentions of a man asking where he’s going.

Bodycam footage shows the 57-year-old repeatedly lie to tell him ‘Germany’ and then brush off his requests for a cigarette before assertively telling him to ‘go away’ on May 13.

He calmly walks back to the vehicle’s front where he finds two men climbing between the truck and cabin, then sternly tells them to ‘get down’.

Plank even waves and says ‘bye bye’ as the men, who he speculates are armed with knives to cut their way into trucks, walk away from his vehicle.

The trucker found two men climbing between the truck and cabin, then sternly told them to ‘get down’

The father-of-four says the incident could have turned dangerous but insists his ‘security-guard-like’ approach of avoiding aggression is best in this ‘game of cat and mouse’.

He admits that if he was a young man without a family he might have ‘given them a slap’ because he believes they should be applying for residence in the EU rather than attempting to come to Britain.

His video has been viewed almost three million times with many praising him for his calm handling of the situation and telling him he shouldn’t have to deal with the issue.

No-nonsense HGV driver Plank (pictured), 57, filmed the moment he foiled a migrant gang’s plan to distract him while they climbed onto his truck bound for Britain – even sarcastically waving goodbye as they skulked away

Plank, from Blackley, Greater Manchester, said: ‘If I was a younger man then maybe I’d be giving them a slap.

‘The thing is not to be Billy Big B*****ks and start shouting, screaming and threatening. They’ve got nothing to lose so it’s best to be firm like I was in the video.

‘I had to be more like a security guard or a police officer. If I got any more aggressive then they’d have been aggressive with me.

‘He engaged me in conversion so two of his friends could climb up and get on the roof. I caught them in the middle of trying to climb up.

‘They were hoping I was either heading for the boat at Calais or the channel tunnel to get to the UK. It’s a regular occurrence.

‘These people have large knives because that’s what they cut the side of trailers and roofs with.

‘They’re always in groups and they look after each other so if I attack them I’m outnumbered.

‘We look at it as part of the job now, and it has been for around 25 years. It’s like traffic on the M25.

‘They are there. They are coming and I can’t do anything about them. The EU isn’t doing anything to stop them so they let it be England’s problem.

‘I wasn’t going to tell them I’m going to the UK. That would be stupid.’

Plank, had stopped to get fuel near Calais, France, last month when he became suspicious of the intentions of a man asking where he’s going

Plank even waves and says ‘bye bye’ as the men, who he speculates are armed with knives to cut their way into trucks, walk away from his vehicle

Plank’s video has earned almost 6,000 comments and more than 130,000 likes. One social media user commented: ‘It’s not fair poor lorry drivers have to deal with this and do their jobs’

Plank was travelling back from Italy and had stopped for fuel at an unmanned station in Marck, France.

He regularly films his interactions with a thumb-sized body cam for his own safety and so he can highlight the issue online.

The 57-year-old, who says he changed his name by deed poll because everyone knew him by his nickname, is keen to stress the migrant crisis extends further than boat crossings.

Plank said: ‘Calais used to get a lot of coverage when the jungle [camp] was there but now it’s been taken down people think it’s no longer happening. I want to keep it in the public eye.

‘Everyone knows about the boats and people think the camps have disappeared but they’ve just moved and the problems we faced then haven’t changed.

‘If these were legitimate people they would find a legitimate way in the first safe country they arrive at. Okay they might not want to stay there but they can apply there.’

His video has earned almost 6,000 comments and more than 130,000 likes.

One social media user commented: ‘It’s not fair poor lorry drivers have to deal with this and do their jobs.’

A second said: ‘You handled this so well.’

A third added: ‘What a joke. Fair play to you. I would have lost the plot.’

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