Experience: I smuggled myself out of the UK

We were locked in a box in a lorry for 12 hours. I’ve never been so terrified I escaped from my home, Soran, in the Erbil area of northern Iraq, in 2011 when I was 19 years old. My life was in danger – powerful people had made threats to kill me. I had been told that the UK was a secure place for refugees. I decided to try to get there and hoped the government would grant me protection. I travelled by lorry across Europe and arrived in October of that year. I claimed asylum and felt lucky to ...

By Anonymous