A lorry driver is calling on the Government to give training on how to deal with asylum seekers

This is after he found nine of them hidden in his lorry. Peter Beal, of Horsham, could not believe it when he opened the back of his lorry in Belgium and found four men, a woman and a baby inside.

After ordering them to get out he travelled on, but later the same day he checked again and found two men. Mr Beal decided to make one last check in the passport queue for Dover and then spotted another man looking up at him.

The 47-year-old, of Collingwood Road, was so angry he threw him out of the vehicle. The Government has introduced a fine of £2,000 for every asylum seeker brought into the country.

Now Mr Beal, who was bringing back a delivery of Easter chocolates from Belgium for a firm in Surrey, has written to Francis Maude, Horsham MP and Shadow Foreign Secretary. He is asking him to put a question in the House of Commons on what help and advice can be given to lorry drivers confronted with asylum seekers.

Mr Beal said: "I had nine asylum seekers, or criminals as I see them, in my lorry. If I had not checked I could have been facing a bill of £18,000 for bringing them into the country.

"I don't have that sort of money so I could have ended up losing my house because of these people. Also I don't like having to physically throw people out of my property. I don't want to be arrested by police abroad for protecting my own lorry."

Mr Beal said: "We can't be expected to do the job of immigration officers, customs and the police. We need training to know what we are supposed to do in these situations. If someone breaks into my lorry, I don't expect to be fined for it.

"They must have used a very sharp tool to cut into the back of the vehicle and had sealed it back up so it didn't notice. It could have put me in a very vulnerable situation. I don't know what sort of weapons they could have been carrying."