Ferry firm Stena Line has placed a camera in one of the three access routes to its boats in Hoek van Holland in an effort to stop people stowing away by hiding underneath lorries, the AD said on Monday.

The AD article includes a photograph showing a man in jeans seated on the axle of a large lorry with his legs stretched out in front of him as the lorry drives onto the ship.

‘What they are doing is incredibly dangerous because if you fall off, you will be underneath the next lorry,’ spokesman Marcel van der Vlugt told the paper.

The camera is permanently monitored by security staff who will alert the Dutch border police if they spot anything untoward. Only one of the three access routes is fitted with the special camera because of the cost.

Van der Vlugt said more people have been caught trying to hide underneath the lorries since the last piece of fencing along the route to the ferries was replaced and made more secure.

Dutch military police picked up 170 people who were illegally trying to get to Britain via the Netherlands in the three months to end September, according to justice ministry figures published at the end of last month.

Most of the attempts were made at Hoek van Holland near The Hague but IJmuiden, which offers an overnight ferry service to Newcastle, was also popular.