Migrants make over 150 attempts every day to reach UK from France

More than 56,000 attempts by migrants to get to Kent from France were stopped by UK border police last year.

The figures equate to around 153 attempts each day and are the second highest in the past seven years, despite dropping by 25,000 compared to 2015.

It comes as the Home Office is set to reveal on Thursday that new border checks introduced last year found 97 percent of international students - one of the biggest groups of immigrants - left after finishing their studies.

It had previously been thought that tens of thousands of international students remain in the country illegally and the disclosure that the majority are leaving casts serious doubt on the reliability of the official immigration statistics.

The Office for National Statistics is expected to announce a review on Thursday as it publishes the latest net migration figures.

The figures of migrants being prevented from entering the UK were released to the BBC under a Freedom of Information request.

The statistics include people stowing away in vehicles at Calais and Dunkirk ports as well as Eurotunnel and Eurostar terminals.

A Home Office spokesman told the broadcaster the figures "make absolutely clear that our approach to securing the UK's border is working", but said it was not complacent on the issue.

It added: "We will continue to work closely with our French counterparts to maintain border security and keep legitimate passengers and trade moving."

Violent clashes have taken place this week between police and more than 200 migrants in Calais.

It has prompted The Road Haulage Association to issue warnings that UK drivers are being put at risk.

Spokesman Rod McKenzie said: "Our members are terrified and angry. Gangs of marauding migrants, often armed with iron bars are attacking their vehicles.

"The police are heavily outnumbered and it's clear that they can no longer cope with the ever increasing numbers trying to make the crossing to the UK.

"We hear of drivers refusing to make the journey between Dover and Calais while many hauliers are rerouting their vehicles around the Port at a cost of many thousands of pounds."

The industry body, which has a long-running campaign calling for the deployment of the French military in Calais, said some drivers chose to divert their vehicles via longer routes to avoid the area.

Some 7,000 migrants were cleared from a makeshift camp in the city last autumn.