A RECORD number of migrants crossed the Channel From France on a single day this week, the British government said on Thursday, pushing annual figures well beyond last year’s numbers.
The Home Office confirmed that at least 482 people made the trip across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes on Wednesday, many on dangerously overcrowded inflatable boats.
The numbers surpass a previous record set only weeks earlier as migrants took advantage of favourable summer weather.
Britain’s domestic Press Association news agency said the figures took annual migrant crossings past 10,000 — far more than the roughly 8,500 people the government said arrived in the whole of 2020.
The government said they dealt with 21 “events” involving the 482 on Wednesday, while 246 individuals were prevented from reaching southern England by the French.
Dan O’Mahoney, the government’s Clandestine Channel Threat Commander, blamed criminal gangs for the situation, and called the situation
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