'Border control found a migrant in my trailer at Calais, what happened next was obscene'

A retired ambulance service worker who has dedicated his life to helping others has been told to pay a £6,000 fine within 60 days after a migrant was found hiding inside a trailer attached to his converted motorhome in France.

Great-grandfather Peter Hughes, 75, who met the late Queen Elizabeth after accepting a long-service award from North West Ambulance Service, has branded the enforcement action by the Home Office as 'obscene'.

He said he and his wife, Anne, 78, knew nothing of the would-be stowaway - and they have cooperated fully with the authorities at every turn. Peter told the M.E.N. how French border force officers at the Port of Calais found a young Sudanese man hiding inside the trailer.

He and his wife had been preparing to board a ferry back home to the UK after a camping holiday around France and Europe with their dog.

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The former ambulance technician, who retired in 2000 after 21 years, said they believe the man was put inside the trailer when they stopped at a supermarket near the port for supplies ahead of the crossing home.

He told of the moment a 'foot and a leg' emerged from under the trailer's covering before French police were called to the port in May.

After returning home to Droylsden, Tameside, Peter said he was sent a letter informing him he was being investigated. He said he complied fully and completed all the relevant paperwork expected of him, telling the Home Office he and Anne, a former carer who retired at the age of 75, knew nothing of the man's desperate bid to get to the UK.

The trailer's bungee cords were all intact and there was