Approaching the port, her father Bill, who was driving, saw that the road had been blocked by migrants who had used felled trees to construct a makeshift barricade.
“As we stopped, between seven and 10 men appeared out of the bushes,” Ms. Phillips told equestrian magazine Horse & Hound.
“They were carrying big pieces of wood and what looked like bats. They surrounded the lorry and started hitting the sides, and smacking the windows with their bats.”
Ms. Phillips went into the back of the lorry to check on her horse, and was forced to hang on to the groom’s door from the inside to prevent the migrants gaining access. “They were trying to open the groom’s door as I was holding on to it trying to fight them off, and trying to break the windows,” she said.
“My dad was blowing the horn, trying to get the police’s attention, then I heard a smash. They’d put a branch through the passenger window of the cab and my mum and dad were covered in glass.
“Mum’s face was bleeding, so was dad’s arm; it felt like forever until the police came.”
Although the police scared the migrants away and escorted the family from the scene, they then “left us and we had to drive back through Calais on our own,” said Ms. Phillips.
“It was full of groups of young men, all dressed in dark clothing. They were just milling around, not really doing anything, but it was terrifying because of course we had no passenger window.”
What did they expect? The father is totally irresponsible... You don't take the road while the barbarians roam.
