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Migrant 'Hotspots' Across Motorway Network

The trail of the illegal migrant in Britain is an elusive one.

Sky News understands there are "hotspots" of activity along the motorway network in southern England.

Groups of fleeing migrants, who have managed to sneak onto trucks in Calais, disembark at service stops for hauliers.

Cobham services in Surrey is one of the first major truck stops out of Folkestone and 156 migrants have been arrested there since April alone.

Surprisingly, sightings of those fleeing across the countryside are less common than you would expect in the area.

However, every few weeks or months, there is a local with a story to tell.

Nine months ago, a farmer who owns lands near Cobham services came across a group of five Nepalese men.

He told Sky News they were making their way from the motorway stop with €200 (£140) between them and a note written in English saying they needed to get to Huddersfield.

It is impossible to put a precise number on the number of illegal migrants who are evading border control and, indeed, where they end up.

Another resident, who lives in Downside near to the services, witnessed two migrants arrested in front of his house two weeks ago.

He said they often appear to have a mobile phone with them and cars turn up on the street and take them away.

It can happen at any time during the day or night.

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey, Kevin Hurley, is calling for Gurkha soldiers based in Folkestone to help border police there.

He said resources across UK police forces are too tight and the situation is unmanageable.

"The issue is simple - we need to close our borders properly in terms of searching the lorries," he said.

"It's an easy fix in Folkestone where the tunnel comes out there is a barracks with 700 Gurkhas there.

"Give them some sandwiches ask them to walk up the hill and help the Border Agency out and then replace them at tea time with some more.

"It's easy. And then you need to deal with Portsmouth. And Plymouth."

Some truck drivers at Cobham services seemed sympathetic to the migrants' cause.

"The issue is war," one driver said.

"They have nothing and it's driving them here.

"I found a migrant strapped underneath my vehicle. He was in a terrible state."

Lured by the promise of a new life most agree that these people are desperate, and despite extra security this is a problem that is, in the short term, unfixable.