ILLEGAL immigrants hiding in the back of a lorry escaped and ran into Watford this morning after the driver pulled over in Rickmansworth Road.
Italian lorry driver Rossi Giovanni, 60, had driven from Siena, Italy, via Calais and Dover, to make a delivery to ASP Packaging in King George Avenue, Watford, when he heard a noise in the back of his vehicle just after 9.30am.
He pulled over to investigate and when he approached the back of the vehicle a group of men tore the canvas on the side of the lorry, jumped out into the road and ran off.
Mr Giovanni, who does not speak English, enlisted the help of a member of the public who called the police for him on a mobile telephone. The driver then waited with his lorry in Rickmansworth Road for police officers to come and investigate.
Two of the immigrants, both from Albania, were caught and detained by police as they ran along Cassio Road towards Watford town centre but the rest of the men were not found.
It is unclear exactly how many men were hiding in the back of the lorry but Mr Giovanni, who seemed visibly confused and upset by the incident, thought there may have been four stowaways.
Police called the immigration authorities informing them of the two immigrants that had been brought to the station.
June 27, 2002 16:00
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