Police say enquiries are continuing to establish the ages of 19 suspected illegal immigrants who were stopped on the A14 near St Ives on Friday.

A lorry was stopped at the Lakes Business Park, in Galley Hill, at about 1.30pm and 19 people were detained and taken to police stations in Thorpe Wood, Peterborough, and King’s Lynn.

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire police said: “We are working with social services to establish the age of the individuals.

“Once this is established, it will inform the next stage in proceedings.”

It is not known whether any action was taken by police against the driver of the lorry.

Officers said they were made aware of the group after a “person travelling in a lorry saying she was with other people in the vehicle and wanted to get out.

“The lorry was located about 20 minutes later on the westbound carriageway of A14 and stopped at Lakes Business Park at Galley Hill.”

Taxi driver Keith Forster, from Cambourne, who saw the event unfold, said: “There were about 15 police cars there and quite a few immigrants sitting on the curb waiting to be processed while the police were getting more out of the articulated lorry. It was obviously a pretty big incident.”

A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service said: “We sent an ambulance crew, three ambulance officers, a rapid response vehicle, and the Hazardous Area Response Team.

“19 patients in total were assessed at the scene, but did not require hospital treatment.”