A "JOKE" uttered by a lorry driver at the Channel Tunnel terminal at Folkestone cost him his freedom today.

German Alexander Meusel, 31, pleaded guilty to wasting police time and was jailed for a month after jesting that his truck contained explosives as he was about to board a train destined for the Continent.

Folkestone magistrates were told Meusel was stopped at the site for a random search on Friday on his way from south Wales to Germany with a load of recycled paper.

When he asked a security guard what he was looking for, he was told explosives. He replied that he had TNT in the back.

He was later heard talking to a Belgian lorry driver in German and the words "Bin Laden" and "20 tonnes" were used.

Thirty-nine police officers spent eight hours checking the truck, Meusel's identification and the origins of the lorry and the load. They found nothing.

His solicitor Mark Trafford, said the "flippant, jokey comment was ill-advised" but it was not intended to be taken seriously.

Mr Trafford said the reference to Bin Laden in the conversation was the fact Meusel believes lorry drivers from further afield with potential links to the terrorist network are not checked as regularly as he is and he was carrying 20 tonnes of paper.