THE Euro MP responsible for Worcestershire and Herefordshire has spoken out on the rail freight crisis surrounding the Channel Tunnel, claiming it could have devastating effects on the region's industry.

LibDem MEP, Liz Lynne, has condemned the UK and French governments for failing to take action following the indefinite cancellation of almost all freight trains through the tunnel.

The cancellations are due to the security risk posed by hundreds of refugees, many of them Afghans, trying to board UK-bound goods trains when locomotives are changed at Frethun yard, near Calais.

Rail freight operator EWS International is telling customers it can no longer guarantee that trains will either leave the country or that goods can be brought in.

Miss Lynne said rail freight services between the West Midlands and Europe had been dealt a "devastating blow".

"Unless action is taken urgently, EWS International may have to be wound up, destroying hopes of a rail revival based around use of the Channel Tunnel," said Miss Lynne.

She said French security services were only providing enough cover to permit the departure of four trains each night, which meant that, although trains could still leave Britain, the difficulty in getting them to return had effectively ended normal working practices.

"The failure to provide security clearly represents an obstruction to free trade in the Single Market, and runs counter to everything that EU transport policy is intended to achieve," continued Miss Lynne.

"Any hope of boosting international rail freight and taking the pressure off our motorways may be dashed if EWS International goes out of business.

"As well as being bad for the environment it would be counter to Labour's own transport policy. We need urgent action to be taken."

Herefordshire drinks company, Bulmers, exports products all over the world and moves thousands of tonnes of product around Britain each week.

The company is currently undertaking rail freight trials to ascertain the efficiencies and potential benefits of rail freight, compared with road freight.

"Any cancellation of freight services into Europe could seriously damage the local economy and the potential for export sales," said Bulmer's public relations manager, George Thomas.

"We export around the world and anything that hampers exports is going to damage the future of local industry."