Shocking footage has revealed the extent of the migrant crisis in Ouistreham, where young men run after trucks - hoping to hide inside the vehicles destined for England
A MAN dashes behind the lorry, pulling at the locks until the heavy metal door swings open.
He grabs the back of the massive vehicle as it speeds around the roundabout, desperately holding on.
But as the 40 tonne lorry continues down the road, gaining speed, he loses his grip and is dragged along for 50 feet.
Eventually, he loses hope and lets go, spinning on the road as cars are forced to swerve around him.
It is just one attempt he will make that day – a desperate quest to sneak onto a truck destined for his dream home, England.
This is not the Calais Jungle. It is the once peaceful small fishing town of Ouistreham that has become the surprising destination of choice for migrants desperate to get into the UK.
It is a daily game of cat-and-mouse that has left locals of the once peaceful holiday village fearing for their future as more migrants turn their attention to the area.
Ahmad, 17, has been living in the woods next to the port for three months.
He tells The Sun Online: “It’s cold and difficult.
“I won’t ever go back to Sudan – there are too many problems.”
He raises his hand in the shape of a gun, adding: “There’s too much death."
He said his mother still lived in Sudan, having made the perilous journey to Europe by himself.
The teen said: “I landed in Italy three months ago.
“I just want to get to England.
“I want to get a job.”
Most of the men are from Sudan, a country that has been plagued by civil wars on and off for more than 40 years.
Conflict still lasts today, with as many as 50,000 people killed and 2.3 million people forced to flee their homes since 2013.
Many travel by sea to Europe, but when probed about how exactly they reached the continent, fall silent.
One told The Sun Online: “I have two children, six and seven.
“I want to get to England to get a job, or study, I want a new life.”
Over two days last week, The Sun Online captured the desperate attempts made by the migrants to get onto trucks in broad daylight.
For them, staying in France is not an option and they flock to Ouistreham, a town of about 9,000 people, in the knowledge it is a potential portal to the UK - where many feel they will have a better life.
But for many, their plan to get into England is not successful.
One said he had managed to get onto 19 trucks – each time dragged off by gendarmes.
When they are questioned by officers, some give fake names and ages.
The 22-year-old said: “I’ve heard some have got into trucks.
“I think there is a chance.”
The town lies at one end of the 8km stretch of beach – codenamed Sword – close to where British troops landed in France on D-Day.
Now, tourists gape as the migrants brazenly bolt down the street after trucks in daylight, yanking at the doors as gendarmes watch.
“This town is committing suicide by not knowing how to handle this,” says author Sean O’Nuallain.
He bought a home here more than a decade ago. A lot has changed since then.
He told The Sun Online: “For my first 14 years here, I left my door open and my bike outside.
“As soon as the kids arrived, my bike was stolen.
“I reported my bike stolen to the cops and complimented them and said ‘you have a beautiful town here’.
“The officer smiled, it was like he knew it was over.”
Sometimes the migrants manage to haul themselves into trucks, immediately hiding in whatever load the truck carries. But the success is short-lived.
Barely 150 feet down the road, the truck stops and the gendarmes swoop in, dragging the young men off and sending them back down the road.
Caught, the men loiter down the road – ready to start again in a cycle that will repeat several times in just one day.
Some have been in the town for months, with locals saying the numbers had particularly started to grow since last Spring.
Many believe the number has grown to 300, with some migrants believed to have travelled the 350kms from Calais after the notorious "Jungle" was closed down.
The men have made their home in the street and woods around the town.
During the day, they nap in parks, play on their phones, give each other haircuts or simply sit, waiting for a lorry to pass – when the mayhem begins.
Local worker Florian Lemoine, 20, said: “Everybody is afraid of them.
“Tourists are afraid to come here.
“Two years ago, the shop was full in the middle of August, now nobody is here.”
He said the migrants didn’t cause any trouble for the shopkeepers – more concerned on the lorries speeding down the road towards the ferry.
Other locals shared stories about how families had already sold up, moving elsewhere after the migrants arrived – quickly sick of the changes to their town.
One local restaurant owner says she lost 60 per cent of her revenue in just three months.
Another says they lost 30 per cent of their business in the past year, all from truckers too scared to stop in the town for fear of having their vehicles boarded.
Others say tourists don’t want to sit along the road where the migrants run, with restaurants losing huge numbers of customers.
Another shopkeeper said she often had the young men coming into her shop to buy bread and sardines.
She said: “They are so young, some of them must only be 15.
“They run like gazelles after the trucks.
“They get pulled down and then they just try again and again.
“It’s an impossible situation.”
Another local, retired Jacques Quédru, 74, said the migrants had been on the streets for the past two years.
He said: “Most people aren’t happy about them being here.
“They live in the trees – there are maybe 200, 300.
“They don’t want to stay here, they don’t speak French and they don’t try to integrate.”
During the Sun Online's visit to the town, one migrant was detained by police after trying to break our cameraman's equipment.
The man, who was among those trying to get onto the trucks, had covered his face before rushing into the confrontation.
One truck driver told The Sun Online he often had migrants running after his truck.
He said: “It’s so dangerous – I look in my back mirror and see them running after the truck.
“I have to keep driving, if I stop it’s even more dangerous.
“It’s also concerning for cars and pedestrians – it’s dangerous for everyone.
The Road Haulage Association has accused French authorities of still not doing enough to protect truck drivers.
Commenting, RHA chief executive Richard Burnett said: “Since the Calais Jungle was closed in 2016, migrants, with the sole intention of reaching the UK by whatever means possible, are now focusing their attentions on another coastal weak point, the town of Ouistreham.
“The scene there is now chaotic. As in Calais, lorry drivers run a gauntlet of threats and violence 24/7 as they approach the port and each day it’s getting worse.”
RHA members report that dozens of migrants line the route along the approach road waiting for an opportunity to break into a lorry.
“It clearly shows how desperate these people are to cross the Channel and the easiest way is on the back of a truck,” continued Richard Burnett.
“As far as the migrants are concerned, the police are more of an irritant than a deterrent. The rule of law simply isn’t working.
“The French authorities need to get a grip of this crisis, and quickly, before one of these attempts ends in tragedy – for either a migrant or for a UK-bound HGV driver that just wants to do their job.”
A truck driver for two years, he said he had never found any migrant in his truck.
He said: “I don’t know what the solution is, it’s too complicated.”
The growth of migrants has changed the town, with tourists instead choosing to head along the coast to the next seaside town.
The summer fair sits empty as the young men stroll up and down the main street.
A spokesman for Romain Bail, the mayor of Ouistreham, told The Sun Online the number of migrants in the region was believed to be around 120.
He refused to answer further questions, saying the subject was “too passionate”.
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