WATCH: Chaos at Dover as record Channel migrant wave triggers lifeboat frenzy at harbour

Watch as a flurry of lifeboats carrying Channel migrants arrive at Dover,.

French and UK border patrol vessels were overwhelmed by a record surge of over 1,000 migrants crossing the English Channel on Saturday. The arrivals smashed the previous daily record of 825 migrants who made the illegal journey on 21 May.

A GB News Kent producer reported "back-to-back arrivals" at Dover harbour's migrant processing centre, estimating "well over a thousand migrants have arrived today, probably more like eleven hundred."

Several British and French lifeboats were called in to assist overwhelmed border patrol vessels. One maritime security source said: "Authorities in France and the UK have simply been overwhelmed at times today."

The latest surge brings the year's total to around 14,700 migrants, representing a 41% increase compared to the 10,448 who had crossed by this point last year. People smugglers pushed out multiple migrant boats from a huge stretch of French coastline following improved weather conditions after strong winds had prevented crossings over the past week.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security. The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice."