Kids returning from school trip find migrants hiding among suitcases in coach
Parents were left in shock after migrants were found in the luggage hold of a coach full of children returning from a school trip to France.
The school pupils, their teachers, and their parents who were waiting to collect them were left stunned when they arrived home from the three-day trip and found the stowaways. Two men, thought to be in their early 20s, were found hiding among the luggage when the hold was opened after the journey back to the UK.
One mum waiting to collect her child said the incident at Hounsdown School in Totton, Hampshire, was 'horrendous'. One of the men tried to run off but was stopped by parents and one child's luggage was said to be covered in urine.
The coach had been carrying children Year 9 and 10 pupils who had just come back from a three-day school trip visiting Boulogne University about 20 miles south of Calais.
The coach returned to Hounsdown School in Totton, Hampshire (Daily Echo/Solent News)The teachers and pupils had travelled home on the coach via the Eurotunnel at Calais, returning to Totton, near Southampton, on Saturday evening.
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"It was horrendous," one mum said.
Describing the moment the men were found, she said: "(My son's) luggage was covered in urine and his belongings crumpled by one of the men being on top of it. I asked them (in French) if they spoke English or French and they replied French, I was about to ask them where they'd come from but got ushered away by the teachers."
Following the discovery, she panicked and her only thought was to grab her 14-year-old son's baggage from the coach. She said: "The only way I can describe it is panic mode.
"My one aim was to get my child off the bus, and once I had I went back as I couldn't handle seeing kids being asked to take their baggage out of the hold. I just said 'excuse-moi' to the gent and leaned over him to get the rest of the bags out as my son's was tucked underneath him."
Posting on social media, another parent said: "Just picked my daughter up from her school trip to France. The coach driver opened up the bottom to get the suitcases and found three immigrants sat in there."
Several parents who saw the incident have told of their shock."They looked completely fine and comfy," one said on social media. "Not being funny but I'm angry about it. They got access to a coach carrying school children.
"It's one thing to get in a lorry but a very different thing to manage to get in to a coach without being seen."
He added: "Was an absolute shocker to see a person sat there as the kids went forward to get their bags."
Hampshire police confirmed that officers attended but that no arrests were made.
A force spokesperson said: "We were called just before 05:15pm on Saturday, February 10, to reports that two people, who were possibly illegal immingrats had been found at Hounsdown School in Totton. Officers have attended. No arrests have been made."
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