Travellers on Norwood Green have spoken out after the annual Village Day was cancelled as a result of their presence on the green.

getwestlondon reported on July 7 that the event had been cancelled after two of the stall holders pulled out , despite the organisers' best attempts at finding a replacement venue .

Ealing Council officers are currently in the process of trying to remove the travellers from the green, but this process could take a number of weeks as there are conditions that the council must meet in order to gain a County Court order.

However, travellers who have been on the green since June 29 have spoken out, insisting that they were not aware that the Village Day was meant to take place and that they would not have camped there if they had.

One of the people to have set up on the green, who did not wish to be named, said: "No matter where travellers go there is always a negative side to that.

"We weren't told anything about an event going on here tomorrow. There have been a lot of police officers talking to us and none of them have once said anything about an event.

"I'm sure if we all knew there was an event we would've moved on - we wouldn't stop it happening.

"If they told us a couple of days ago before it was cancelled we would've moved out."

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'The mess wasn't us'

The person also claimed that it was unfair that they were being blamed for the litter piling up on the green, which has seen the children's playground closed by the council.

He suggested it was local residents' children who are to blame.

"We've been getting a lot of bad comments because people have a bad opinion of travellers," he said.

"There are a lot of kids here and when we wake up in the morning and look out the window, all the kids that live here are playing before they go to school.

"Who's to say it isn't those kids that are making the mess? They're up at the crack of dawn before any of us are out of bed playing before they go to school.

"We haven't had any real problems with people. The police who came have been nice enough, if they have a problem why can't they just come and say something and then we would discuss?

"We are all people at the end of the day and we all have to go to bed in the evening and get up in the morning."