A WORRYING incident that happened on the M62 motorway near Bradford on Tuesday evening - thought to involve two asylum seekers - has lead to concerns being raised over the levels of desperation that many, often vulnerable migrants may face.

11 people made calls to West Yorkshire Police to report that a woman carrying a child was walking on the M62, dangerously close to cars and vehicles, in the midst of torrential rain and adverse weather conditions, as the shocking scenes unfolded between junction 26 at Chain Bar and junction 25 at Brighouse.

The woman and the child, who is just four-years-old, were then located by police at Hartshead Moor services, before being taken to a place of safety.

A Bradford-based roads policing officer known on Twitter as Traffic Dave tweeted: "Responded in terrible conditions to reports of a female carrying a child. Female and 4 year old child found by colleagues at the services. Asylum seekers in need of help #Sad #Team3"

Traffic Dave also used a picture to accompany the tweet, of the M62 at the time of the incident, which shows how poor visibility was on the motorway, due to the downpour.

It is believed that the two people were first seen just after 5pm, and walked to Hartshead Moor services, where they asked for help and for water. It is understood that staff then contacted authorities and the pair were taken to a police station in Halifax where social services and immigration were alerted.

Will Sutcliffe is the chair of City of Sanctuary Bradford, an organisation which hopes to see Bradford's "Culture of hospitality extended to include those seeking sanctuary in our city", according to its website, which also says, "We celebrate the huge contribution that asylum seekers and refugees bring to the city."

Mr. Sutcliffe said of the incident that, "This would seem to illustrate the extreme vulnerability of people who are seeking asylum, at every stage of their journey to safety. Ourselves and others are always working to support asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. We try and improve and work towards an asylum system which provides safe routes into the UK, that avoid the risk of people being victims of unscrupulous traffickers."

West Yorkshire Police confirmed that two persons were involved in the incident, and that no arrests had been made, before saying in a statement that, "Police were called to the M62 eastbound near junction 26 at about 5.05pm on Tuesday to a report of a woman and child walking on the hard shoulder of carriageway.

"Officers attended and following a search found the two persons who were uninjured at a nearby services. They were driven to a place of safety and contact was made with appropriate agencies."

Community action group Bradford 4 Better said, "For someone to even attempt such a dangerous thing explains how they must have been in sheer desperation. People don't do things like this because they want to, it's because they're desperate. It's a sad situation and it makes you question what has happened to humanity. A lot of the tabloid media will then use things like this as a political tool to inflame ethnic hatred and create fear, which makes it all the more atrocious."