Radio chatter between French and British patrol boats has revealed how officials sounded like they were “boarding holidaymakers” as they picked up asylum seekers in the Channel.
The maritime recordings were picked up by a public radio station on Thursday September 7, a date when government figures show 161 migrants made the crossing on three small boats.
Audio between the two vessels, meant to be guarding their respective borders, highlights language which appears to echo similar phrases used on commercial aircraft flights.
According to the Daily Mail which has obtained the recordings, the boat from France was interacting with the Border Force cutter Hurricane 12 miles off the Kent coast.
The paper reports the French vessel as saying: “Could you just confirm to me that you have finished boarding the dinghy?”, to which it says the Hurricane officer responds: “Everyone is on board. Yes I can confirm that boarding is complete”.
The discussion ends with the European officer saying “Thank you very much” and “see you next time, sir”.
A Channel fisherman who heard the recording told the Mail: “This sounds more like an easyJet flight. Boarding completed is a phrase normally used between staff on a commercial flight or ferry crossing.”
A Home Office spokesman told the paper: “Border professionals operating in difficult environments use established terminology while conducting life-saving operations – as is the case here.
“Our priority is to stop the boats, and our Small Boats Operational Command is working alongside our French partners and other agencies to save lives and disrupt the people smugglers.”
Express.co.uk have approached the Home Office for comment.
Sir Keir Starmer insisted this week closer co-operation was needed with the European Union on the small boats crisis in the face of claims he would hand control of immigration policy back to Brussels.
The Labour leader indicated he could be prepared to do a deal with Brussels which would involve the UK taking a quota of asylum seekers who arrive in the bloc in exchange for the ability to return people who cross the English Channel.
But he insisted that his focus was on ensuring that an anti-terrorism style international crackdown could smash the gangs behind the “vile” trade, preventing people leaving in small boats from France in the first place.
Sir Keir visited The Hague, in the Netherlands, for talks with the EU’s Europol law enforcement agency.
