Calais crisis: Terrifying video shows Hungarian lorry driver running gauntlet of migrants and refugees

The dangerous route hundreds of lorry drivers face as they try to navigate along the north French coast to the Eurotunnel and port terminals at Calais past hundreds of migrants and refugees has been highlighted in this video.

The film, posted by a Hungarian lorry driver and laden with expletives, captures the relative impunity with which migrants from the 6,000 strong Jungle camp Calais are able to attempt to board the trucks.

However, it also shows how the fraying tempers of drivers, confronted with the perilous journey, can put the lives of migrants and refugees in danger. At one point the driver accelerates at speed towards the pedestrians, forcing them to jump out of the way.

Donald Armour, Manager for International Affairs at the Freight Transport Association (FTA), told IBTimes UK that increasingly his members were saying drivers would not pass through Calais to go to the UK.

"Some of our FTA members have told us that their drivers just do not want to go through northern France any more or do international driving. There is a movement within the European logistics companies whose drivers are also saying: 'Look we are just not interested in driving to the UK,'" he said.

Armour explained the danger posed to drivers ranged from verbal abuse to migrants' throwing of stones and larger objects like palates. He said in one instant a driver had reported receiving death threats on the road from individuals saying they would shoot him.

The position of the FTA is that as long as migrant camps remain on the doorstep of the Port of Calais and the Eurotunnel terminals then passing heavy good vehicles will remain a target for migrants.

"We are putting some pressure on the Home Office to work closer with their French immigration counterparts and to try and move the camps away from the immediate area. We want the migrants to be dispersed to diminish the problems," he said.

Police in France have been criticised by activists for using increasingly aggressive tactics in Calais. Maya Konforti an activist with Auberge des Migrants, said police had been deploying tear gas with little reason within the camp. "They [the police] have been throwing tear gas grenades into the Jungle these past three weeks. I wouldn't even say they do it at the least provocation – they seem to be doing it for no reason," she said.

Konforti explained that migrants had been pushed to extremes as the camp remained crowded and they struggled to continue amid deteriorating conditions. She said in one recent incident the migrants had dragged a tree across the nearby highway in a bid to jump aboard passing lorries en route to Britain.