Police have forced 12 caravans off a site in Acton after "noisy" travellers had refused to leave for almost a week.

A group of travellers moved into The Vale, in Acton, Ealing , on February 18, sparking complaints of safety fears and noise.

Met police said they attended but no criminal offences occurred and they did not initially take action because site owners, Inland Homes, are required to ask trespassers to leave.

But when the travellers, none of whom were arrested, refused to go officers returned to the site on Wednesday (February 24) and forced them to leave.

A dozen vehicles

A police spokesperson said: "Ealing borough officers have been dealing with 12 vehicles that had moved onto private land in The Vale, Acton.

"The travellers had moved onto the premises on Thursday February 18; initially no criminal offences were disclosed.

"Police have subsequently reattended after the landowners had taken steps to ask the trespassers to leave.

"As a result, on Wednesday February 24 officers served Section 61 notices directing the occupants to leave.

"The occupants have been cooperating and have been quitting the site."

'Noise, shouting and dogs barking'

One resident, who does not want to be named because of safety fears, said he would sometimes hear shouting and dogs barking at 2am.

The resident, who claims his pregnant partner and 18-month-old son had difficulty sleeping because of the noise, added: "We had some problems.

"At 2am, a lot of noise, shouting, kids screaming and dogs barking could be heard.

"It lasted about half an hour to 45 minutes, which woke my family up. From what I can see, it is messy but it has always been a yard so it is hard to distinguish from what was there before."

Another resident, who also requested to stay anonymous, said she saw an abandoned washing machine on the site.

'There is rubbish and debris everywhere'

Inland Homes director, Paul Brett, said travellers agreed to their request to leave on Sunday (February 21) but they did not honour this agreement.

He claimed that residents had told him that some travellers had broken into buildings on site, which is being prepared for a housing development.

Mr Brett also said the whole episode had cost him around £2,000 and he has now had to introduce round-the-clock security there.

He said: "There is rubbish and debris everywhere, they said the would go on Sunday (February 21) but they didn't.

"We will now have 24-hour security on site and we will put in place concrete bollards to prevent this."