Thousands of Poles moving to Britain to avoid national service

Thousands of young Poles are moving to Britain to avoid being drafted into their country's army.

All Polish men over 18 must serve nine months' national service.

But since Poland joined the EU in 2004 thousands have come to the UK to get out of it.

Now Poland has ordered a crackdown on the draft-dodgers and they face up to three years in jail if they return home.

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Colonel Wojciech Ozga, a spokesman for the Polish Army, said: "Poles of conscription age who do not inform the army before they leave the country for periods of over two months will have to face the legal consequences."

Courts in Poland are processing a backlog of thousands of charges against its nationals living in the UK for being "absent without leave (AWOL)" from their military service.

Malgorzata Klaus, a public prosecutor in the city of Wroclaw, who is currently prosecuting at least 30 draft-dodgers who had returned from Britain, said those who failed to turn up for military service would be stripped of their rights of citizenship.

She added: "This means they can do nothing here - get a job, open a bank account, marry, even inherit property. The only options are to turn yourselves in or stay abroad."

Lukasz Wronski, 23, who left Poland for Britain as soon as he finished school and works in a meatpacking factory in Liverpool, said he had never heard of any requirement to inform the army before he left the country.

He added: "I was planning to go back eventually, when I had a job to return to, but now I don't know."

Marcin Kowalski, 21, who became a builder in the UK after failing to find work in his homeland once he left school, said when he returned to Poland earlier this year he found that he had been called up by the army in his absence. He has been told he now faces jail.

"I'm living in permanent fear," he said.

Poles can avoid the army by continuing their studies until the age of 28 when national service is no longer required.

The Polish army believes more than 300,000 teenagers were eligible for conscription this year.

But with an estimated one million Poles having moved to Britain since it joined the EU in 2004 - the vast majority between the ages of 18 and 34 - it is unclear how many of the conscripts have failed to report for duty.

The Home Office said there had been no formal discussion of the problem between the British and Polish governments.