Stowaway hid on rugby team bus from France to Suffolk

A rugby youth team coach chased and stopped a man who had stowed away under the team bus from France to Suffolk.

The under-15 side at Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club had just returned from a weekend trip away on Sunday.

Immigration officers at Calais removed a man from the wheel arch of the bus but failed to spot a second stowaway.

Club coach Andy Herlihy said he stopped the man, who appeared from under the vehicle after an eight-hour journey, and detained him until police arrived.

He said: "He was making his way off into the Suffolk countryside.

"I chased after him and told him to stop but he was extremely scared and we didn't have any difficulty in detaining him.

"He could have fallen out or been crushed and it just shows the desperate plight of these poor individuals."

A spokesman for Suffolk Police said they were were called to reports of a suspected illegal immigrant at 20:15 on Sunday, 15 April, and arrested a 26-year-old man.

He was transferred into the custody of immigration enforcement officers.