Hayes police called as travellers set up home at Lidl site AGAIN

The Hayes Lidl site was the centre of police activity once again after travellers set up camp at the spot on Sunday (January 29).

Metropolitan Police was called to the former swimming pool site in Central Avenue on the day after Hillingdon Council were alerted.

The travellers left this morning (Wednesday February 1).

A nearby resident spoke to getwestlondon and claimed they "smashed their way in".

She said: "Already the caravans are there on site the police are aware, the Council and contractors have been informed.

"Let's hope they don't do the same again and fill it with more rubbish, still trying to get rid of the large rats from the last lot of rubbish they left."

A spokesman for the police confirmed the boarded up area was damaged in order for them to enter.

It is not the first time the site has been in a similar situation.

In May 2016, around 40 caravans were seen camped up in the car park of the boarded-up swimming pool site.

A council official for Hillingdon said: "Hillingdon Council has a zero tolerance approach to invasions of its land or property, and our security and enforcement teams deal with these matters as quickly as possible to protect the interests of residents.

"We worked closely with the police to tackle the issue of travellers at the Lidl grounds in Hayes, and all travellers left the site this morning (Wednesday February 1)."

A Lidl spokesman previously said in December : “We were incredibly concerned to hear about the issues at our site in Hayes.

“As soon as we were made aware we started legal proceedings and successfully got the travellers evicted.”

The spokesman added on Tuesday January 10: “We can confirm that the land is indeed being cleared and will be completed within three weeks.

“Construction is due to start towards the end of February.”

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