Dutch ferry company installs cameras to stop undocumented migration
Ferry company Stena Line installed cameras on the driveways to its ferry to England in an attempt to easier spot stowaways trying to sneak to England by climbing onto the axes of trucks, AD reports.
According to the company, this measure is not only for preventing people illegally crossing to the United Kingdom, but also for safety. So far there have been no accidents involving a stowaway on the axis of a truck. "But it's life threatening", Marcel van der Vlugt of Stena said to newspaper AD. "What if you fall from the axis? Then you're under the truck."
Stena already took multiple measures to prevent stowaways on its ferries. In July the company reinforced the fence around the site, to prevent stowaways accessing the ferries by cutting the fence with bolt cutters. This resulted in more people climbing onto trucks' axes before they drive onto the ferry. Cameras on the driveways' surface now check the trucks from below.
If the Stena guards see something suspicious, they call in the Koninklijke Marechaussee - a policing force that works as part of the Dutch military and is responsible for border control.