TRAVELLERS caused disruption to football matches and infuriated neighbours and councillors when they set up the biggest illegal camp in the borough for five years.
Families arrived in about 15 caravans on Thursday to the car park of Kodak Sports Ground in Harrow View, Harrow, but moved out on Saturday at 3pm after landlord Land Securities were forced to issue the approximately 50 itinerants with a formal group eviction notice after the visitors declined to leave voluntarily.
Lydia Heslin, who lives in a neighbouring road, said: “They came here in the night. The first we knew about it was this horrific sound, which was the sound of the generators that have been set up on the concrete.
“They are so noisy, we heard them all night long.
“My elderly neighbour went there to speak to them and they told him ‘get off my land’.
“I understand they need somewhere to live, but not in a car park in a residential area.”
Kodak Football Club secretary Peter Croffey said the club is pleased the travellers were moved on but criticised the mess caused.
“They left litter and fly tipping, and we are looking to see who can clear it all up.
“We had to cancel the whole weekend's football fixtures, including matches and training for the youths and adults, and we have cancelled all the training going on this week until it gets cleaned up.”
Harrow Council said it was the biggest illegal camp to set up in Harrow for more than five years.
Council leader Councillor Susan Hall (Conservative) said: “Once again the taxpayer has been left to foot the bill for getting rid of an illegal traveller camp.
“This was an operation that diverted police time and manpower away from the town centre at a time when we had thousands of extra visitors in Harrow for the Christmas fair.
“As it was, the police did a superb job in the face of aggression and then prevarication from the people who broke onto the Kodak site. “The site was cleared in 48 hours. The clearance operation was nothing to do with anyone’s background or lifestyle choice.
“It is completely unfair on the rest of Harrow residents to have a situation where one part of the community takes a ‘pick and mix’ approach to the law, cherry-picking those bits that support their lifestyle and riding roughshod over the rest.”
The police said the travellers arrived in Harrow having been moved on from Reservoir Road in Ruislip and, after being evicted from Kodak Sports Ground, settled in parkland off Scrubs Lane in North Kenginston, west London. However, they were forced to pack up again and leave on Sunday after Fulham Council issued an injunction.
A Land Securities spokesman said: “We are aware that travellers unlawfully gained entry to the site.
“We sought to negotiate their departure, though ultimately they refused.
“As a result we instructed the Metropolitan Police to serve a Section 61 notice to the travellers.
“They departed the site on Saturday afternoon and we have site security in place to ensure it does not occur again.”
