From The Sunday Times
March 22, 2009

Children risk lives to sneak into Britain

Boys of 12 and younger are among those living in filth in a wood as they wait to cross the Channel as stowaways


A French customs officer discovers four Romanian immigrants stowed away in a truck heading for the UK

Matthew Campbell

HE has crossed deserts, seas and mountains in pursuit of his dream but the English Channel is proving more of an obstacle. Sawab, a 12-year-old Afghan boy, is reduced to living under a piece of plastic in Calais while awaiting a passage to Britain.

Sawab is one of a growing band of children who have joined the throng of supposed refugees hoping to hide in lorries travelling from Calais to Dover, increasing pressure on the French to offer humanitarian aid despite British complaints that this will merely attract more migrants.

“It’s becoming quite commonplace to see children travelling without parents,â€