Lorry drivers warned not to stop within 130 miles of Calais Truckers taking a break near port risk migrants sneaking aboard More than 2,500 illegalÂ migrantsÂ are massing in shanty townsÂ Lorry driver must take a 45-minute break every four-and-a-half hours Britain has pledged Â£12million to help French tighten securityÂ Lorry drivers have been ordered not to stop within 130miles of Calais to try to prevent migrants clambering aboard in a desperate bid to reach Britain. Haulage firms have told truckers that taking a break for a rest, to eat or refuel close to the port risks stowaways sneaking on to their vehicles before they cross the Channel. More than 2,500 illegal migrants, many fleeing humanitarian disasters in Africa and the Middle East, are massing in shanty towns around the French cityâ€™s freight terminal in the hope they can smuggle on board UK-bound wagons. By law, lorry drivers must take a 45-minute break every four-and-a-half hours. Truckers have been told that taking a break close to the port of Calais risks stowaways sneaking aboard their vehicles Now MPs have been told transport companies are advising truckers take it well away from Calais so they do not make themselves a sitting duck for determined illegal migrants who are prepared to die to get to Britain. Transport chiefs revealed the measures during a hearing of the Commonsâ€™ Home Affairs Select Committee, which is investigating the crisis. Peter Cullum, head of international affairs at the Road Haulage Association, said: â€˜We have members who will not let their drivers stop within 200km of Calais. â€˜Most of our members are telling their drivers to park as far away from Calais as possible so that when they get nearer the port they donâ€™t need to stop.â€™Â A shanty town near the French city.Â More than 2,500 illegal migrantsÂ are massing in shanty towns in hope of getting to the UK Britain has pledged Â£12million to help the French tighten security at the terminal. Much of the money is being spent on moving the 9ft-high fences which guarded world leaders at the recent Nato summit to Calais. Calaisâ€™s mayor Natacha Bouchart has said migrants were desperate to reach Britain to claim benefits, because they believed it was like El Dorado, the mythical lost city of gold. But the UK Chamber of Shipping told MPs that stowaways found on Dover-bound ferries pleaded to be sent back to France, because they did not want to get caught up in the asylum system in the UK. Instead, they wanted to have another go at sneaking into the UK â€˜out of sightâ€™ of the authorities so they could work illegally in the black economy. Under British rules, asylum seekers are barred from working.