A coach driver found an illegal immigrant clinging to the bottom of his vehicle as he took a group of schoolchildren home from a trip to Calais in France, the Evening Standard reports.
The 16-year-old Sudanese boy was found after the driver made routine checks and heard a noise under the coach. The boy has since been arrested, with a Scotland Yard spokesman confirming that the teenager was discovered without any documents.
A spokesman for Dan’s Luxury Travel, the company which owns the coach, said: “The driver did what he had to do. He did his legal checks for the vehicle. When he heard a noise underneath he took it straight to the police station and the man was arrested.”
The children on the bus are understood to attend a school in Ilford in North London.
Mary Hawksworth, a passer-by, told the London Evening Standard how the incident unfolded: “They knew there was someone under there. I saw them get off, look under the coach then run inside the police station.
“Then one of them flagged down a passing police car about to go into the station and they got out. There was about six or seven officers all looking under the coach.
“I heard them say ‘get out’ and I thought ‘what?’ and I saw a man crawl out from under the coach.”
She added that the schoolchildren were still on board during the incident and were “sitting there, oblivious to what was happening”.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police confirmed: “A coach attended Ilford Police Station reporting that noises coming from underneath the vehicle were suspected to be from an hidden ‘stowaway’.
“Officers searched the underneath the coach and found a man attached to the chassis.
“He was arrested on suspicion of illegal entry into the UK and taken into custody at the station. Immigration authorities have been informed.”
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