A SOLICITOR has warned local businesses about the risk of travellers setting up camp on private land over the August bank holiday, after a group of travellers was removed from a Bromsgrove Business Park, earlier this year.

The travellers had set up camp in the West Court Business Park on Buntsford Park Road, with 10 mobile homes moving onto the site before the gates were locked for the May bank holiday weekend this year.

Usually travellers move onto council land, and are dealt with by the council, but in this case the site’s owners The King Henry VIII Endowed Trust took immediate legal action against them.

Solicitor Amrit Samra, said: “The group of travellers were pretty shrewd in moving onto the business park moments before the businesses there were due to close-up for the bank holiday, and before the gates to the park could be locked for the weekend.

“It was vital we put the wheels in motion to have the travellers removed as quickly as possible, and immediately prioritised the case. We drafted proceedings and hand delivered them to Worcester County Court for issue on the Tuesday following the bank holiday, and successfully secured a hearing for the Friday of the same week. In accordance with the law, notice of the hearing was posted around the site so the travellers were aware that legal proceedings were underway. A court order for possession was successfully obtained and served on the Friday afternoon, which resulted in the travellers leaving the site before the weekend within a week of them illegally occupying the site, and just four days since we were able to begin steps to get them removed.

“This highlights just how well travellers understand the legal process necessary to have them evicted from a site, and that by moving onto the site on the eve of an extended bank holiday weekend, they were buying themselves some extra time until the courts reopened three days later.

“Sadly, there seems to be a growing trend of travellers moving onto commercial sites and business parks, especially at times they know owners and tenants will be powerless to do anything to have them removed such as over public holidays. Owners and occupiers should be extra vigilant at these times, and remember that the next bank holiday is just a few weeks away at the end of August.”