A suspected illegal immigrant has crawled from underneath a motorhome in Ashford after apparently tying himself to the chassis in Calais.

Owner Teresa Tyrer rented the large Swift Kontiki to Paul Coles and his daughter Joanne for a motorcycling holiday in Andorra.

At 1.45pm today they were unloading the vehicle at Mrs Tyrer’s house in Hoppers Way, Singleton, when they got a shock.

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Mrs Tyrer said: “All of a sudden a hand appeared from underneath the vehicle and nearly gave my hirer a heart attack. Out crawled this very bemused looking man in his late teen or early twenties.”

Mr Coles gave the man a sandwich and some water while Mrs Tyrer called the police.

She said: “He’s now sitting on our lawn having a picnic. He’s not shown any need to get up and walk.

“You’ve got to feel sorry for him. He’s only young and it’s just a shame they are prepared to do things that are so dangerous. “

Police arrived at 4.30pm and searched the man before he was taken away in tears.

He has been handed to the Home Office immigration enforcement team and taken to Dover Immigration Removal Centre.

Heeding recent warnings, Mr Coles did not stop anywhere near Calais until he reached the waiting area for the Le Shuttle service, but said there were people roaming the car park when he arrived at 4.30am.

He said: “I would imagine it would have been in Calais at the tunnel car park because we didn’t stop anywhere prior to that.

“It was a bit of a shock. We were unloading and suddenly this face appears between my legs. He must have tied himself on because I don’t think he could cling on for that long.”

Mrs Tyrer says she wants people to be aware of the risk of stowaways before it causes a major accident.

She said: “I just want as many people to know as possible so people are aware.

“If they can hide under that van they can hide under anything and it is not just their life they are risking they are putting lots of peoples lives in danger.

“It is really scary. Someone is going to fall off the bottom of one of these vehicles and cause a pile up.”

Video: Suspected illegal immigrant found under motorhome

A spokesman for Kent Police said: “Kent Police was called to an address in Hoppers Way in Ashford at 1.46pm on September 15 to reports of a suspected illegal immigrant found underneath a motorhome.

“The man was collected and has been transferred to the Home Office Immigration Enforcement for them to take any further action.