Flemish Brabant Province seems to have found a solution to the problem of so called transit migrants at motorway carparks in the central province. Private security guards, fences and cameras have helped to reduce the numbers. Last year 357 migrants were stopped. So far this year only 83 migrants surfaced.
Migrants often head for motorway carparks in order to jump on a truck and – hopefully - embark on a sea journey to the UK. “Closing the carparks wasn’t an option. The problem would only be shifted elsewhere. There were also fears that if the carparks were closed trucks would start parking in village centres” explains governor Jan Spooren.
In conjunction with prosecutors, police, the immigration department and the roads agency a solution was found. Fences were put round carparks and CCTV installed.
The number of migrants stopped has plummeted while police reports too have fallen off a cliff: 31 in the year to 20 October compared to 211 in the same period last year.
Interestingly, during the pandemic the volume of truck traffic fell, while transit migrant numbers didn’t.
Flemish mobility minister Lydia Peeters (liberal) concedes that even though the figures are falling the issue of transit migrants is unlikely to disappear. Contracts with private security firms are being extended. Further investments in motorway carparks are planned.