SEVEN suspected asylum-seekers, including four children, were being held at Southampton Central police station after they fled from the back of a French lorry on the M27.

The seven, who claim to be from Kurdistan, were spotted by dozens of drivers sitting on a central reservation at the junction of the M27 and the M3 near Rownhams services yesterday afternoon.

Police were called to the scene after a number of drivers called saying they had seen the suspected asylum-seekers sitting near two articulated lorries that were parked on the hard shoulder of the westbound carriageway - near the junction with the M3.

It is understood that one of the lorries suffered a puncture and had to pull on to the hard shoulder of the motorway.

When the lorry came to a halt, the suspected asylum-seekers tried to flee but ended up trapped in the central reservation.

The group is understood to comprise a man in his thirties, two adult women and four children aged between two-and-a-half and 12 years.

The group is currently being quizzed by immigration officers.