Travellers left behind tons of rubbish at a lorry park and landed council taxpayers with an clean-up bill totalling thousands of pounds.

More than twenty travellers, their caravans and vehicles took over half the space on the Rye Farm lorry park in Abingdon. Some agreed to move off the site after five days once the Vale of White Horse District Council obtained court summonses.

Workmen tackle garden waste left by travellers in Abingdon

But most of them - many of whom ran businesses while parked up - failed to meet the deadline and did not move on until Monday morning, leaving behind a large pile of cut down trees, domestic rubbish and two spent gas cylinders.

The clear-up operation took two days to complete. The council used two contractors, one to remove the trees and garden refuse which was re-cycled and another to take away domestic rubbish.

The cost of the operation is not known at this stage but previous clean-ups have cost the council thousands of pounds.

Assistant car park manager Steven Evans said: "

"We have to strike a balance. If we introduce measures to physically prevent travellers from entering it will also deter lorries and we need to provide an overnight facility for lorries."

Last year, travellers paid two visits to Abingdon, in May and September.

Insp Graham Sutherland, of Abingdon police, said: "The problem is nowhere near as bad as it was a few years ago when we took a hard stand and issued notices to travellers. Most travellers know that the Abingdon area is not a place to stay but we cannot relax and we always monitor the situation."

**Picture: Jon Lewis