The incident took place near Maldon in Essex at around 3pm on August 3
The owner of a removals company has told GB News he has received "death threats" after four illegal migrants broke into the UK by cutting into one of his lorries.
Speaking to host Patrick Christys, John Scott, Director of Algarve Removals, said that in his 30 years in the industry, he has never received so much "abuse" and "threats" to himself and the company.
In viral footage posted on social media, four illegal migrants are spotted running off into the Essex countryside after hiding in an Algarve Removals lorry, which had travelled from Portugal.
The incident took place in a lay-by near Mr Scott's warehouses in Maldon, Essex at around 3pm on August 3.
Recalling what had happened, Mr Scott told GB News that due to new tachograph laws, the driver was "unable to make the full trip in one hit", and had to stop before reaching the UK.
He explained: "On this occasion, the driver stopped in a place called Reims, which is about 200km south of Calais. It's in an overnight, fairly secure truck stop, as secure as it can be, and we tend to sort of stay as far away from Calais as possible, because if you dare stop in Calais, you're going to get someone in your truck.
"So we take the necessary precautions - on this occasion, what they've done, they've got on top of the roof, which is 4.2m high, they've cut a slit into the soft roof that we have on these trucks, and they've climbed inside the truck, then left the following morning, departed to Calais, and did not stop until we got to Calais."
Mr Scott made clear that the truck passed both the French and UK Border Force checks, despite the migrants being inside the vehicle.
He said: "French Border Force, they did the necessary checks, including the rear doors. We have these locking devices on the doors that you can't open by any means, unless you've got the right tool. They put a dog around the truck, we then moved 400 yards forward into the UK Border Force control area.
"And they've done the same checks, which is unusual, but this time they checked the truck on two occasions. The truck's then free to leave, he departed on the Channel Tunnel, arrived in Folkestone, and the minute you come off that train at Folkestone, you pull onto the M20 and it's non-stop all the way to our depot in Maldon."
Mr Scott continued: "Our yard was quite busy at that time of the evening, so we asked the driver to pull into the lay-by between our two warehouses.
"It's clear to see from the evidence from the passer-by that these four immigrants have climbed out of the hole in the roof and jumped to the ground, and off they went."
Mr Scott questioned why Border Force is unequipped to check the roofs of trucks leaving France.
He argued: "What I can't believe is why don't they have CCTV that's six metres high on a pole to check on every roof of a truck?
"Because every truck has to go through the same lane. It'd be so easy to have a pole with a camera - any signs of a hole, you can't hide a hole - if they cut a hole in that truck, you're going to see it and then stop that truck."
The company boss made clear that out of "500 trips a year" by his trucks, an incident such as this has "never happened before".
Mr Scott also revealed that as a result of the viral video, he has received "death threats" from concerned Britons.
He told GB News: "Chelmsford Police, I have to say, not only was they thorough, they was very fair. They had to arrest the driver, and they released my driver yesterday lunchtime, thank God. But the social media side of it is another story.
"The problem is we advertise locally using my mobile number, and I'll be thinking about it in the future because the abuse that we're getting... I've had death threats, I've had people saying, if anything happens to their children or their house gets broken into, they know where I work, they're going to come and get me.
"I've been doing this trade for 30 years. How can that happen? It's ridiculous. Social media is so wrong."
An Essex Police spokesman said: "They haven’t been found. I do not believe Essex Police resources are actively on the ground looking for them anymore – we conducted an intensive ground search of the area yesterday. We would still be keen for anyone who has any information about their whereabouts to get in touch."
A Home Office spokesman said in a statement: "We are relentless in our pursuit of people-smuggling gangs and stand ready to respond to all methods, including lorries and other clandestine routes.
"That’s why the Home Secretary has set out the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times, removing incentives which draw people to the UK illegally and making it easier to remove and deport them.
"Our tougher legislation and continued work with our French counterparts will disrupt vile people-smuggling gangs."
