ILLEGAL immigrants emerged at a Coalway coach depot having travelled 430 miles on the axle of a bus!

It is thought the two Iranian men had tucked themselves underneath the Colefordian coach near Paris and hidden themselves on the front axle as the bus returned to Coalway via Calais.

Staff at the coach depot were alerted to the men after hearing scuffling noises coming from underneath the bus which had been on a monthly trip to the Continent.

Managing director Paul Willetts said he believed the men must have been under the coach for around 24 hours in temperatures as low as -11C.

"When the driver told me there were people under the coach I thought it must be a wind up," he said.

"The driver had looked under the coach when he heard noises and saw two sleeping bags in a sort of alcove area which is above the axle.

"One of them spoke a bit of English and kept saying 'Iranian'.

"We had to try to keep them there until police arrived.

"It makes you wonder though, if two people managed to get across on one vehicle – and there's got to be 300 to 400 coaches that come across every day – how many do make it into this country?"

Police officers arrested the men, aged 20 and 27, on suspicion of immigration offences after they were disco-at around 1.25pm on Tuesday, December 14.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: "The two men – who were both from Iran – were taken to Gloucester police station.

"Police contacted the UK Border Agency and an immigration officer questioned the men at the police station.

"The pair were later released from custody and must report regularly to the UK Border Agency while their cases are being examined.

"If they are found to have no right to be in the UK once their cases have been concluded, they will be removed from the country."

Last year, the UK Border Agency officers based in France and Belgium stopped more than 29,000 individual attempts to cross the Channel illegally and searched over one million freight vehicles.