A Frenchwoman living near Neufchâtel-Hardelot, south of Boulogne-sur-Mer, has spoken out about the fear caused by migrants gathering near her family home before attempting Channel crossings to Britain, releasing CCTV footage showing groups in life jackets rushing across her land towards departure points. Héloïse Longuet, 44, said her 19th-century farmhouse, originally a holiday home under renovation, has become surrounded by young men living in illegal squats and camps in nearby woods, drawn by smugglers charging around £1,000 per place on overcrowded dinghies. Her account highlights how communities along France's northern coast are increasingly bearing the brunt of the small-boats crisis as crossing routes shift, adding a French perspective to a debate more often framed around Britain's response.

Longuet said she installed CCTV cameras with warning signs after at least three incursions onto her land, and now feels unsafe raising her two young daughters there, with local police protection minimal. Smugglers have shifted departure points from Calais and Dunkirk to the quieter, harder-to-patrol Hardelot beach, where fatalities have occurred, including a man in his 30s killed and six others injured, among them a toddler, when a boat capsized last month (August 2026), and two women who died in May after being crushed aboard a boat carrying around 80 people. Despite her sympathy for migrants themselves, including Afghans who told her fellow travellers had died en route to France, Longuet blames people-smugglers for profiting from the danger, while the local mayor estimated as many as 600 migrants may be in the area.