The chief of the Road Haulage Association, Rod McKenzie, has called for French troops to be stationed at Calais, in a bid to protect UK lorry drivers in particular from the increasingly desperate and violent attempts of migrants to board their vehicles to get into the UK.

He lambasted new government plans for a £2 million 1000m long wall along the route to the port, demanding tougher action.

The 13ft high wall was branded “a poor use of taxpayers’ money”, with Mr McKenzie adding, “What will happen is that this wall will be built close to Calais Port and the trouble will move further down the road, which is already happening.

“We are advising our hauliers ‘don’t stop within 150 miles of the port’ because they are subject to attack at any point along that road.

“You can’t just build a wall and the problem will go away; you have to tackle the underlying cause.”

The barrier is intended to be built along the final stretch of the main motorway which leads to the French port.

Lorries have been forced to slow by migrants, using makeshift barricades including trees and shopping trolleys, which then triggers traffic jams. Migrants then try to stow themselves away in, on, or under the stopped cars and lorries, so that they can be smuggled across the border to the UK by unwitting drivers – who can then be fined up to £4000 for each migrant found in their vehicle.

The RHA claim that they fear that soon a motorist will be killed by the “highly organised migrant gangs” if the “violence and chaos” continues.

Mr McKenzie said, “So far [there are] 2000 police deployed in the area – simply not enough. We believe the French military has the manpower to bring the situation under control and restore order to Calais.

“The French army need to be deployed because the situation is getting worse.”