As ferries prepare to leave the port, migrants loiter down alleys or crouch behind bushes and signs.
Suddenly, they spot what they are waiting for – an un-padlocked lorry bound for Britain that has slowed as its driver navigates the lanes of the Normandy village.
Now the chase is on. The migrants – who are being forced from Calais by tightened security – sprint down the road, and, desperate to cross the Channel, force open the door and hurl themselves inside, in full view of passers-by and tourists.
Mad dash: Migrants break into a lorry
Their brazen bid – close to one of the main landing areas of the D-Day invasion – is spotted by the French police, who flag down the lorry and turf them out. Smiling and undeterred, the would-be stowaways drift off. As regular as the ferry timetable, however, they will be back again soon to have another go.
Such are the daily scenes being played out in Ouistreham near Caen, where fears are rising that the area could be swamped over the summer by more migrants.
Local hauliers have reported rising numbers targeting the area, and transport bosses have called for security to be improved – even suggesting the French military should be drafted in to provide a permanent deterrent at ports along France’s northern coast.
This week Ouistreham has been a hive of activity, with the 74th anniversary of D-Day marked by dignified events across Normandy. But as the ceremonies took place, the Mail witnessed repeated attempts by migrants, mainly young men from Africa, to board lorries.
The village lies at one end of the stretch of beach codenamed ‘Sword’ which was, on June 6, 1944, one of the five landing areas at the centre of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France.
The UK’s Road Hauliers Association has warned that the situation in the small Normandy port could get much worse
Collared: A migrant is pulled from a vehicle by policemen
During the anniversary on Wednesday, veterans in regimental berets and blazers, their medals pinned proudly to their chests, were having lunch while the migrants gathered in nearby streets ahead of the 2pm ferry’s departure to Portsmouth.There was a noticeably high police presence, with three gendarmerie vans parked at a bend in the road leading to the port and more officers at the ferry terminal’s entrance. They repeatedly moved small groups of the migrants on, but the men just wandered off around the corner then returned to their spots minutes later. As the last few lorries arrived, they appeared to become less fussy, chasing in vain after whatever drove by as the clock ticked ever nearer to the ferry’s scheduled departure.
Among those thwarted was Mohammed Ahmed, 17, from Sudan, who is among around 100 estimated to be sleeping rough in Ouistreham. He said: ‘We want to go to England for a better life. Maybe I can get a job. I come here every day.
‘I live in the road, I don’t have anything. The police are no problem. If they tell us to go away, we just come back again.’
One unlucky stowaway is caught by police at the Caen crossing
Ahmed Adam, 20, also from Sudan, who has been in France for four months, said: ‘We cannot stay in France because they will send us back to Italy … because that is the first place in Europe where we arrived. Maybe if we go to England they will give us documents.’
The next morning, the migrants returned, as dawn broke over the port ahead of the 8.30am ferry’s departure.
This time, there were fewer police visible and groups of migrants were photographed getting into the back of two lorries. One, as it turned out, wasn’t actually bound for the UK, but making a local delivery. As the chaotic scenes escalated, more officers arrived and the migrants were removed from both vehicles.
Mohammed Sesay, 17, left Gambia in 2014 and arrived in Europe, via Libya, in 2015. He says he spent three years in Germany before going to France, where he was in Calais ‘for a long time’, though he did not live in the notorious ‘Jungle’ camp which was dismantled by French authorities in 2016. After failing to make it to the UK on the six-hour ferry journey to Portsmouth on Thursday, he said: ‘It’s very dangerous trying to get in the lorries. But we have no choice. It’s better than sleeping in the streets.
‘I know that when I get to the UK it will be good for me … I have a strong belief that I will arrive there safely one day. So I will always keep on trying.’
We’re in! Stowaways leap aboard
Rob McKenzie, the managing director for policy and public affairs at the Road Haulage Association, said: ‘We need much more policing of channel ports and their surroundings because it does act as a deterrent, at least in part … We need a standing unit of people who are a permanent deterrent – and that’s a military thing.’
Christophe Blanchet, the MP for Ouistreham, has recently warned that the situation is ‘at the edge of a precipice’ – and spoken out against creating ‘a place of welcome’ for the migrants in the village as that ‘would open Pandora’s box without solving anything’.
Despite many of those striving to reach England sleeping rough and relying on charities for food, Mr Blanchet said that migrants often spurn welcome centres or other assistance provided by the French authorities. Some give fake names and ages when asked for their identities.
‘Currently many migrants and especially those who are in Ouistreham, refuse to join these places of welcome, maintained by the hope of crossing the Channel,’ Mr Blanchet said. ‘Therefore, no support can be put in place.’