Nearly 1,500 asylum seekers have crossed the Channel to the UK in three days.

The Home Office confirmed that on Friday UK authorities had to rescue or intercept 624 people in 23 incidents.

On Saturday the same was done with 491 people in 17 cases.

Sky News that day showed film of one group brought ashore by the RNLI at Dungeness including a baby girl.

And yesterday (Sunday, October 10) 364 people were stopped in 11 instances.

This makes the total on the British side of the English Channel to 51 incidents involving a total 1,479 people.

Meanwhile French authorities on Friday intercepted in at least seven events, preventing 300 people from reaching the UK.

They did the same with 114 people in five incidents on Saturday and this Sunday it was 16 incidents involving 511 people.

Their total for the three days adds up to 28 incidents with 925 people.

So in those three days, on both sides of the Channel, there were at least 79 incidents involving 2,404 people.

Dan O’Mahoney, UK Clandestine Channel Threat Commander, said: “The Government is determined to tackle the unacceptable rise in dangerous Channel crossings using every tool at our disposal, at every stage in the journey.

“Working with police and international partners, there have been nearly 300 arrests, 65 convictions related to small boat criminality and our targeted efforts have prevented more than 13,500 migrant attempts so far this year.

“But this is a complicated issue requiring changes to our laws. The Government’s New Plan for Immigration provides a long-term solution to fix the broken system and deliver the change required to tackle criminal gangs and prevent further loss of life.”

This latest news is just after the PA news agency, on Friday, revealed that the Home Office spent nearly £7,000 on pizzas for asylum seekers brought in to Dover in July.

Also on Friday a report by inspectors from the Dover Independent Monitoring Board condemned conditions for asylum seekers at Tug Haven at Dover Western Docks.

It is usually the first place they are brought to when they are rescued at sea and brought to shore by the Border Force.

The arrival of of people by small boats, usually dinghies, has been a common method over the last three years.

Since the start of this year, more than 17,000 have succeeded in reaching the UK – double the figure for the whole of 2020.

More than 16,400 had arrived by September 24 when last year's total was more than 8,400.

The RNLI was asked by KentOnline about Saturday's rescue off Dungeness but referred media enquiries on to the Home Office.

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