STUNNED workers watched in amazement as seven Kurdish stowaways jumped out of a delivery lorry after it arrived at an East Lancashire firm.

The driver of the vehicle, which had travelled to office seating maker Dauphin's Blackburn factory from Germany, called the police after spotting a head peering round the back of it.

When the police arrived, the back of the lorry was opened and the seven stowaways - described as "shellshocked and dazed" after a journey of 24 hours - came out.

The seven, understood to be from Kurdistan, did not speak any English and police officers from Blackburn resorted to reeling off names of foreign football teams to try to establish where they may be from.

Eventually they arrived at Turkish club side Galatasaray, which used to be managed by Graeme Souness, and the stowaways began cheering!

And the Kurdish-speaking boss of the Happy Haddock takeaway in Darwen Street was even brought in to translate for the group of men who were in their teens and early twenties.

Immigration officials from Manchester Airport eventually took away six of the seven and were due to collect the last stowaway today. It is expected they will be allowed to stay with friends and relatives in the North West while they are applying for asylum.

It is understood the seven began their journey on the truck in Belgium.

The truck had originally travelled from Dauphin's parent company in Germany with its weekly load of chairs and spare parts for office seating for the Peter Street factory.

"Although we don't know where they came from they are obviously discerning illegal immigrants who wanted a comfortable ride!" said a spokesman for the firm.

Last year, East Lancashire lorry drivers were hit by a spate of stowaway incidents as refugees from Albania and the former Soviet Union fled their homelands.

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