Hi. Im starting up with a firm here in Northern Ireland running fridges to Belgium, France & NL. My first continent job and im hearing all kinds of nightmare scenarios about asylum seekers sneaking into onto trailers etc. Any advice on how to tackle this would be great appreciated. Mate told me always park on a lit up fuel pump before opening the back doors as there will be cctv.
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It isn’t as bad for trucks as it was ten or fifteen years ago, but be very careful about parking anywhere near the ports or en-rte to the ports. Don’t unless it is in a secure area.
There are now secure parking areas near the short sea ports/train. Use them.
Lock and seal your trailer yourself. Check it yourself.
When entering on the Euro side there are extensive checks for stowaways, and the driver is not assumed to be the guilty party straightaway, but if you have repeated instances of stowaways being found, you will be in the sticky stuff.
Don’t fill up with diesel near the port. Especially not alone and in the dark, but at any time it should be avoided.
They still do try, and sometimes succeed, in getting onboard, but mostly it is because of failing to take precautions.
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Thanks Franglais ! What did you mean by “short” ports? Dover/Calais?
Invest in one of these prods…
… in lengths to suit all applications. 
Okay, I’m leaving.
Yes, the short sea crossings. I haven’t experience of the Dutch ports. The Western Channel ports do have some secure parking allowed, but may be limited in capacity.
I retired from that work recently, but have mates still on it, and nowt has changed that I know of.
@star_down_under
Prevention is better than cure! 
Don’t understand this advice. Why would you park in a lit fuel pump? Most of them are open 24/7 so you’d be blocking the way for others to refuel. And why would you be opening the back doors? They need to be securely locked, locks taped up and regularly checked for tampering. As others have said diesel up inland 
Unless you can check the roof safely after an overnight stop, hopefully away from the ports, the easiest way to check for intruders is, again depending on the actual load etc, by looking inside the trailer.
And if doing that I would try to do it in a busy well lit place.
If not customer sealed I always put my own seals on the trailer, and did a check, changing seals before getting into the ports.
At one time we helped ourselves to handfuls of seals, but later they were freely issued but numbers were noted against drivers. I don’t think any of our drivers were involved in anything wrong but the Immigration etc wanted a traceable system of vehicle security.
OK, it is more involved than all the “back in the day” stuff, but none of it is too arduous.
Once upon a time we would park almost anywhere and feel safe. Those days are gone, both in lots of EUland but also in the UK. Clandestines, and also diesel fairies and thieves.
There are still a few problem areas, Caen and Calais ports. Le harve, Cherbourg, hoek of Holland etc seem fine on approach.
If using Pidou for cheap wine the tramsmark one is dodgy day and night unless police happen to be parked in there, use the Dunkirk one.
In Belgium a couple of west bound services won’t let you park up after 6pm to overnight and the police will move you on if they find you.
Secure parking can be found TWV 6.1 is good. Curtains are vulnerable but a proper big lock on a fridge should be enough.
It is rare but there have been cases when fridges have had holes cut in the roof. Easily seen in the ports, but lots of expensive damage caused.
Don’t give the buggers the opportunity to have time to get near.