In December 2018, I was on a coach that made headline news following the discovery of two asylum seekers stowed under the coach. This was following our trip to Paris for the PSG vs Liverpool game. I wrote a few words about this for Jeff Goulding's book We Conquered All of Europe:
In your own words, tell me what happened on the coach. How did you come to discover these lads hiding? Where were they hiding. What happened when they were found and what was the reaction of others on the coach to these lads? Is it true they were given food and drink?
We arrived at Calais on the way back and everyone was knackered and most were asleep. It was only me, My Dad, the second driver and one other bloke who were awake on the coach as we were on the Euro tunnel. Nothing was obviously untoward, and we were all a bit quiet and gutted after the loss. The train came to an end and my Dad and the other passenger were already back on the bus. The driver was woken up and I’m pretty sure I was one of three people still awake.
We started driving and it must have been around 20 minutes of leaving Dover and getting back on the motorway home. The driver turned a corner and had to slam on the brakes. Loads of cans and rubbish etc. came rolling forward and a lot of people woke up shocked but once we realised it was all fine people went back to sleep and I thought I’d try and join them. I had my legs stretched across the middle of the bus and my feet were on the floor. I started hearing a knocking sound and I ignored the first couple, but it was getting increasingly annoying.
I started looking around, but everyone was asleep, and I couldn’t work out where it was coming from. I woke my Dad up and asked if he could hear anything. He said it was a young lad two rows in front and to the right, I looked and said it wasn’t him. It was still carrying on, about every 30 seconds. I thought it could be someone in the toilet about four rows ahead, but it sounded like it was a lot closer. I started to think it must be underneath as I could feel it on my foot that was in the aisle.
I said to my Dad that I thought someone was underneath and we tried to listen out for something. It was a bit odd and then I just said it again a bit louder "I’m pretty sure someone is underneath us". The bloke in front turned around and just said ‘Really!?’. We all listened and then I heard a shout, in a foreign accent, of ‘Hello!’ and only the person in front heard it as well and then it went quiet for about 5 minutes.
My notification for a text is the sound of someone knocking and I got a text in the quiet period and then worried that I had imagined it all. After those 5 minutes someone knocked and shouted "Hello!" again and I was sure, about 5 others heard it and we were all laughing but knew that something had to be done.
I got up and walked to the front of the bus, as we were only around 5 rows from the back. I went up to the driver and the bloke who was sat with him and said I thought there was someone under the bus. They both laughed like I was taking the mick, but I persisted and told them how I’d heard something. I got the impression they still weren’t convinced there wasn’t a punch line coming. I just insisted that I was pretty sure someone was underneath, and they didn’t sound scouse.
The driver said he wouldn’t be able to pull over for about 20 minutes, so I went to the back of the bus and passed on the news. As the time passed the knocking got louder and so did the shouting. The person assisting the driver came down and asked me a few further questions and after I had finally convinced him, he said that they were thinking of a plan as they didn’t want the driver to be done for trafficking or anything like that. They said it would be around 15 minutes until we could pull over at a service station and inform the police that we would arrive there. He went back to the front and the commotion had woken more of the heavier sleepers at the back of the bus.
These young lads were convinced they were the first to hear the news and started laughing, joking and knocking back underneath, believing it was someone from the coach who had gone underneath for a nap. The knocking was coming from right underneath us at the back, we were all sure it was one person in the hold banging. The driver saw a traffic officer pulled up on the right of the motorway and he pulled left to get out and let them know.
As soon as we stopped the first person got out, he looked like he’d gone through an ordeal as his coat was all ripped apart with the inside all hanging out. It looked as though these were just his clothes, but it soon became clear that it had all been ripped apart during the journey.
As we had pulled over, everyone moved to the right, phones in hand to capture the moment as soon as he popped his head out we all cheered and celebrated. He didn’t run or anything, just looked made up to have made it, stretched his arms out and was very calm. He was walked onto the coach and the cheering continued, people moved aside and let him sit down, crisps, drinks, sweets, sandwiches were all passed down to the front for him. It was amazing how calm and happy he was, we all expected him to run as fast as he could when he got out, but he was just so happy to be out of the engine which is where he was hiding, right at the back of the coach near the wheels.
He was with us for about 5 minutes and then shouts of, "There’s another one!", echoed around and people started to run off the coach to have a look. The hold was lifted, and another young lad was hiding with our luggage. We again were all cheering, and the first lad pushed past everyone and ran to his friend/brother? They embraced and started crying and I think everyone stopped and just realised that they must have gone through so much to get there.
For all of us it was a funny story to tell when we finally got home but I think we realised how huge it was for them two. People started getting pictures of the lads and we had the group picture that made the front of the Echo. I had a great selfie with the first lad that got off, but it is on his phone! The two were invited onto our coach where the food and drink was flowing, I saw one with a bottle of water and a coco pops breakfast bar.
They were with us for around 10 minutes and then a police car came and took them. The bit that I remember was the youngest lad on our coach, around 10, asking the driver what would happen to them. The driver said the police will come and collect them and process them, and the kid asked, ‘Will they kill them?!’, the driver laughed and said of course not and explained how they would be (hopefully) looked after. They all left, and I don’t think we thought how big the story would be, it was just a great story to tell and something that helped overshadow the fact that we lost the match!
Why do you think our supporters reacted the way they did? Are we unique? Would other fans have done the same?
You’d like to think that we are unique as much as you’d like to think every other fan would act the same. I was shocked when I read reactions to my Tweet about it and the whole event, some French people tweeted me saying stuff like we can have them, and do we want anymore. Some other British people questioning whether we would be happy if they were terrorists and if they did something bad while they’re in the country.
I can’t fathom that reaction, those two lads wanted to risk everything to get here and they deserve the rewards they get. The reaction of everyone on the coach didn’t come from a debate or a show of hands, we all wanted to help as much as we could. To think anyone else would act differently isn’t easy for me to do as I don’t know how you would not want to help the two lads that we met.
There were mentions of the Chelsea fans who racially abused a fan in France which shows that there are evil people around. As I said, I hope every person and every football fan would act as we did, but maybe they were very lucky to jump on with the Liverpool fans as we were all nothing but positive and helpful with their arrival.
What are your hopes for these lads now, have you heard how they got on after they were passed on to authorities?
Not heard anything, I actually play football with a lad from Sudan which is where the two lads are from and it has made me think of what he may have gone through to get to Liverpool. I’m scared to think as this is a very turbulent time to be discussing immigration and I fear that that they may not receive the warm welcome they received from our coach. I hope they’re safe, happy and that they don’t regret coming to England. If they ever get to leave Dover, I advise they come to Liverpool as I’m sure they’d be welcomed on the Kop as warmly as any other scouser.
Anything else you'd like to tell me?
Only a couple of small things. The driver handed the first-person money as soon as he met him. The traffic police had turned their back and he was sure to do it quickly. That show of generosity was great and I think he deserves great plaudits. He did an interview on BBC Merseyside and I think he came across really well.
Also just a mention for the people of Football Travel Limited (@travel_limited) who managed to get such a good bunch of lads together)
Finally do you have any photos you'd be willing to share?
Just this one, which was taken by Stephen Callister (@Cally2312) who deserves a lot of credit for making sure we all got a picture to capture the moment.
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Peter Kenny Jones
@PeterKennyJones
https://peterkj.wixsite.com/football-historian
Fantastic story. ❤️