School bus trip to France target for illegal stowaways

Two teenagers have given a Coventry school trip something to talk about in the classroom after being found hiding in the coach’s engine bay on a recent outing to France. The two boys, around 14, had managed to access the van from underneath as it was parked in the port of Calais over the weekend.

Exhall Grange School in Coventry had booked the Travel de Courcey bus for their trip around the region which had been going for 1 week. It is believed that during a supermarket stop in Calais the two boys used the exhaust system to gain access to the engine compartment where they hoped to remain unseen during the crossing. The pair was discovered by driver Dave Kelsey on his return to the bus as he opened the rear engine flap and noticed one of the boys lying across the engine. He shut the door immediately out of surprise and shock.

One of the boys, realising the game was up, managed to crawl out and escape across the carpark of the supermarket. The second boy was finally coaxed out by Kelsey, with the help of some local soldiers, but he too fled the scene. According to eyewitnesses at the port, the two were seen later in the day searching for a new vehicle.

It was fortunate that Kelsey discovered the pair as they had cracked the exhaust pipe on entering the coach, which means they would have been gassed to death had they travelled even the smallest distance atop the already boiling engine. Mr. Kelsey felt that the boys may have come from the Jungle migrant camp, which the school saw remnants of earlier in the week.