The flow of migrants trying to get into Britain from Calais appears “too much” for the UK government to handle, a spokesman for Eurotunnel has said.
About 2,000 migrants tried to enter the Channel Tunnel terminal in Calais on Monday night in a bid to reach the UK.
Home Secretary Theresa May confirmed the government had agreed an extra £7m towards increased security at the Channel Tunnel terminal in France.
But the Freight Transport Association called for the Army to be brought in.
Speaking in Singapore, Prime Minister David Cameron said the crisis in Calais was “concerning” and said he has sympathy with those British holidaymakers affected.
He said Mrs May was due to chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee Cobra later.
A Home Office spokesman said the £7m funding – outlined by the Home Secretary earlier this month – will pay for 1.2 miles of new fencing at the Eurotunnel site at Coquelles.
Work to put up fencing began earlier this month and is due to be completed this week, the Home Office added.
It comes as a number of people were injured on Monday after some 2,000 migrants tried to enter the Calais railhead in a bid to get to the UK, a spokesman for Eurotunnel said.
The incursion was the biggest in the past month and a half, the spokesman added.
The incident caused serious delays to Eurotunnel train services – with passengers held up for about an hour on the British side and 30 minutes on the French side on Tuesday, French news agency AFP reported.
Kent Police reintroduced Operation Stack following the incident, leading to long delays for lorries on sections of the M20 near the Channel Tunnel.
A spokesman for Eurotunnel – which manages and operate Channel Tunnel services – said migrant incursions were now “an almost nightly occurrence”. It is an issue for the government to “sort out”, the spokesman said.
“We need them to stop the migrant flow from Calais but it appears to be too much for them to handle,” he added.
However, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said the Army should be drafted in to help search vehicles coming into Britain for illegal immigrants.
Don Armour, head of international affairs at the Freight Transport Association, backed his calls, saying: “They’re trained and they would know what to do.
“It may not be the way forward that would be approved. But perhaps it could be one of a number of solutions that the government might like to consider because we could be talking about people’s lives,” he told BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight programme.
Eight migrants have died this summer trying to reach Britain through the Channel Tunnel.
The home secretary held talks on the migrant issue with French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve on Tuesday, saying the two governments were working “in close collaboration and cooperation on this issue”.
“We are both clear that we need to ensure we are dealing with the terrible criminal gangs, the people smugglers, who are making a profit out of the human misery of many people,” Mrs May added.
Confirming the £7m investment, she said French authorities have also committed extra resources to security at Calais.
Asked why British taxpayers should be paying for a problem taking place on French soil, she said: “We have juxtaposed controls at the border. We work together on dealing with this particular problem.”
Earlier this month, Mrs May announced that a new secure zone will be created at Calais for UK-bound lorries in response to an unprecedented surge in migrants attempting to cross the Channel.
AFP says an official count at the beginning of July found that about 3,000 migrants – mainly from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Afghanistan – were camping in Calais and trying to get across the Channel.
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