More than 1,100 small boat migrants reach Britain in four days, with more on the way, as smugglers cash in on the heatwave

By DAVID BARRETT, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR Published: 14:04, 19 June 2026 | Updated: 14:07, 19 June 2026 More than 1,100 small boat migrants have reached Britain in just four days, with more on the way, as people traffickers exploit the heatwave. There were 392 arrivals on Thursday, official Home Office figures confirmed, in addition to 710 on Monday. It brought the four-day tally to 1,102 and pushed this year’s total so far past the 10,000 mark. Further dinghy departures carrying several hundred more migrants were seen from the beaches at Wissant, south-west of Calais, earlier on Friday. The total is expected to soar even higher over the weekend and throughout most of next week, as calm winds persist. It means the UK could be braced for one of the most sustained periods of small boat arrivals so far this year. French police officers stood by and watched some of Friday’s departures from the beach at Wissant, with some filming migrants on their mobile phones. There were distressing scenes as migrants risked their lives to clamber aboard dangerously-overloaded dinghies. One woman became distressed as she attempted to reach an overloaded dinghy bound for the UK, pictured off the coast of Wissant, near Calais, early on Friday morning Migrants struggle to board a traffickers' dinghy bound for Britain early on Friday, at Wissant beach, south-west of Calais It came despite a recent shift in tactics by French police in the wake of a new, £660million three-year deal for beach patrols to be funded by the British taxpayer, which was agreed in April. After years of lobbying by successive UK governments the French have begun intercepting some traffickers’ ‘taxi boats’ – but not all - while they are already in the water. French officers stood by as migrants set off aboard dinghies to the UK from Wissant beach, near Calais, on Friday morning Migrants struggle to board one of the overloaded dinghies setting off for the UK from Wissant beach, near Calais, on Friday morning Last month French police were reported to their country’s human rights watchdog after using a knife to deflate a small boat packed with migrants bound for England. Dramatic scenes filmed at Oye-Plage, a beach near Calais, on May 3 showed an officer slashing at an inflatable before it collapses. About 25 young men were forced off the craft and retreated back onto the beach. Migrants on the overloaded dinghies included infants and children Migrants carry an inflatable boat into the sea at the beach at Wissant while attempting to cross the English Channel Migrants arrived at Wissant beach, south-west of Calais, at dawn in an attempt to board smugglers' dinghies to Britain Officers who sprinted up to the dinghy were seen wading into shin-depth water but it was unclear from the video whether it was actually afloat. A spokesman for the Pas-de-Calais gendarmerie said the vessel was actually grounded at the time. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. But a spokesman for migrant charity Utopia 56 claimed it was illegal to deflate the dinghy while it was already in the water and put lives in danger. It filed a report to France’s Defender of Rights – the country’s principal human rights watchdog – about the incident. There have now been 10,244 small boat migrants reach British shores since the start of this year, not including Friday’s unconfirmed number. At the same point last year the figure was 17,278. But this year's current levels are not far behind the 11,690 seen at this point in 2022, which went on to record an annual high of nearly 46,000. Earlier this year saw period of sustained windy conditions in the Channel, which may have helped reduce numbers, along with several successes by law enforcement here and on the Continent in disrupting the activities of smuggling gangs.  There have been more tha 200,000 arrivals since the start of the crisis in 2018.  The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.