A CYCLE tour around the D-Day battlefields ended with an extraordinary tale to tell for a group of Scouts who arrived home on Monday night to find what was believed to be an illegal immigrant in the back of one of their equipment vehicles.

And they have absolutely no idea how he got there!

According to Rotherfield Scout leader Stuart Withey, the young man, thought to be in his 20s and of Middle Eastern origin, was discovered sitting among the kitchen equipment in the back of a van and was pleading in English for someone to let him out.

Fellow Scout leader Greg Beardsall, an experienced coach and lorry driver, acted swiftly, locking the stowaway in the van and calling the police.

The shock find occurred around 11pm when the group of Scouts, including more than 70 young people ranging in age from eight to 16 and accompanied by leaders and parents, arrived back at Bentley Scout Hut following a May Day bank holiday trip to visit the D-Day beaches and war graves of northern France.

An established expedition, run for the last four years by Rotherfield Scouts, that enables the young people to learn about history and the French culture, it has become so popular that this year’s trip was expanded to include Scouts not just from the Rotherfield district, which embraces Alton, Alresford, Bentley, Bordon and all villages in between, but West Surrey, with Scouts from as far afield as Guildford, Farnham and Woking.

The young people boarded the ferry at Portsmouth on Friday night, travelling as foot passengers and disembarking at Caen. They were based at a camp east of Bayeaux and spent the long weekend cycling the 100 miles between Second World War sites.

They ended their trip on Monday by cycling back to Caen, via Pegasus Bridge, to catch the 4.30pm ferry. There, 112 bikes were packed into trailers, pulled by vans and cars packed with kit and camping equipment.

Once again, the young people travelled as foot passengers, disembarking at Portsmouth where they boarded coaches to take them back to Bentley.

According to Mr Withey, the support vehicles, presided over by the expedition support crew, were opened up and checked by customs officers at both ports.

“We really cannot fathom how on earth anyone was able to gain access to the van,” said Mr Withey.

But when the travelling group arrived back at base and opened up the vehicle containing the kitchen equipment, there he was, “just him and his mobile phone”.

Mr Withey said: “The parents were there collecting their children, we were unpacking the bikes and equipment, so there was a lot of noise, he must have been terrified.

“We called the police and they arrived within 10 minutes to remove the stowaway and they have since handed him over to border control.”