Four suspected illegal immigrants were detained today after they were found hiding on the back of a lorry.

The driver stopped to ask for help from striking firemen at Hove fire station who were manning a picket line in Old Shoreham Road.

One of the refugees had injured his hand and was complaining of feeling unwell.

The firefighters called police and a paramedic from the nearby ambulance station at St Joseph's Close, Hove, to examine the injured man.

His injury was not believed to be serious and all four men were able get down off the back of the lorry with the help of police officers.

The refugees are believed to have hidden themselves on board a French ferry at the freight terminal in Dieppe last night.

They are thought to have crawled under the tarpaulin covering the lorry's load of ceramic tiles during the crossing to Dover.

The lorry driver said: "The trailer was checked by Customs in France before it was loaded on to the ferry.

"There was nobody on the trailer then, so they must have been hiding on the ferry looking for a lorry to stow away on.

"I have deliveries in Brighton and Bristol but I had no idea they were there until we got to Hove."

Firemen left their picket line to help the driver in case the four refugees tried to run away.

Sub Officer Stuart Black said the driver did not know they were there until one of them popped his head though a hole he had cut in the tarpaulin and he saw them in his wing mirror.

"He signalled to the driver to stop because one of them was injured and needed help.

"He pulled up by our picket line and we could see the man with his head sticking though the hole.

"We called an ambulance and the police and then stopped the traffic in case they tried to make a run for it."

Police used the fire station's car park to unload the four men who did not speak English and were crouched in small spaces between blocks of tiles on the trailer.

Police were this afternoon trying to discover their nationalities before handing them over to immigration authorities.