Calais mayor 'may use British fences to block port'

However, the mayor, Natacha Bouchart, joked on Twitter that she may use the nine-foot high steel fences to block all ferry traffic to and from the town if Britain continues to dismiss her demand to help pay the 12 million annual bill for efforts to stop illegal immigrants.

Ms Boucharts aides said the mayor considers the offer of fencing insufficient and believes that it reflects a lack of understanding by the British of what we are up against here. She says Calais is being held hostage by up to 1,500 migrants encamped around the port.

The deputy mayor, Philippe Migonet, said: "When I first heard about it (the offer of fencing), I thought it was the legendary British sense of humour." However, he welcomed it as a first step towards providing more aid.

Ms Bouchart threatened last week to blockade the port of Calais if the British government failed to come up with funding.

Most of the illegal immigrants in the town are from Eritrea and other impoverished African countries, but some have come from Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East, according to charity workers who feed and clothe them. Every day, some break into lorries bound for Britain and try to jump on to trains, local authorities say. Some who clung to the undercarriages of lorries and buses have been crushed to death.

Calais police say they have too few officers to cope with the problem and believe that illegal immigrants manage to cross the Channel most days.

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Calais mayor 'may use British fences to block port'