A former soldier today told how he broke his foot in a desperate escape from a deserted ferry port.

Paul Goscinski, 36, woke up in his cabin on the Dieppe to Newhaven ferry at 1.30am on Sunday to find the rest of the passengers had disembarked an hour earlier and the terminal was like No Man's Land.

He said: "Everyone had gone home. No one was there."

Mr Goscinski, who caught the last boat from France after a two-day trip to Rouen, raised a member of the night crew who let him off the ship but then had to remain on duty on board.

Alone in the darkness he searched desperately for a way past the razorwire-topped fences surrounding the dock.

Mr Goscinski, who served in the infantry before beginning a degree in psychology and English, said he spent 30 minutes searching for a way out but found everything locked.

He said: "The staff on the boat said they could not help me to get out because their responsibility was with the boat.

"I walked around the perimeter but there was no way of getting over the fence.

"I found a door which said to break the glass in case of emergency but then there was another lock on the other side.

"But I found another white door that was open, which led on to the roof. I dropped my bags to the ground in front of the terminal building and jumped down."

Mr Goscinski said he did not realise he had fractured his ankle in the 20ft jump.

Relieved to be free, he walked to his car and drove home to Western Road in Brighton.

But when he woke later on Sunday morning he said he was was struck by searing pain. He called an ambulance and was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, where an X-ray revealed he had fractured his ankle.

Port authorities are investigating.

Duty supervisor at Newhaven Port John Howarth said: "If this man did find his way out he was lucky because all the fences are regulation height for terrorist reasons.

"There is an 8ft fence with a nest of razor wire on top. It is like a prison.

"It is feasible he could get out but I would have expected one of our security staff to have spotted something."

Mr Howarth said there were two security points manned round-the-clock.

He said Mr Goscinski should have been able to go toone of these points and be let out.

He said: "The stairs lead to a part of the building that used to be a viewing gallery but has not been used for years.

"The door there is broken so he could have got out on to the roof.

"It isn't beyond the bounds of possibility for this guy to go up there and walk on the roof but it is only thin. He was lucky not to have fallen through."

Steve Forrest, operations manager at Transmanche Ferries, said: "Apparently when this guy left the ship he may have broken one of the doors to the terminal when all he had to do was walk up to the security gate and he would have been allowed out. The crew would have normally pointed him to security control."