Travellers move in on Kingston recreation ground - Lndon

From This Is London

Travellers who pitched their caravans on a recreation ground in Kingston say they want to stay for a week.

Five caravans arrived on the Fairfield yesterday after driving in through a gap in fencing.

Martin Murphy, 37, who shares a caravan with his wife and five children, said they had nowhere else to go.

He said: "We've got no rights in this country. They haven't provided nothing.

"The council has got no respect for the travelling community."

Mr Murphy said the council had shut off the gap in fencing with a council pick-up truck, trapping them in the Fairfield.

He said: "The council came down here yesterday with six or seven police.

"They were very upset that we were in here.

"We guaranteed them there weren't more caravans coming.

"They didn't believe that so they blocked that gate with the pick up truck.

"We asked them if there was any permanent place they could put us with toilets and stuff like that and they couldn't help us at all.

"We asked them to stay for a week and they said they are taking legal procedures to take us to court."

His wife, who declined to give her name, said they had spent last night in the car park of Hampton Court station.

She said: "A lot of people have been really pleased to see us."

One woman walking her dog who declined to be named said: "It's not OK. I walk here every day with my dog. I feel sorry for the people who live opposite. They have got no respect."

James Anning, 43, a landscaper who lives in Fairfield West, said: "I assumed it was just we were having a fair. It is horrendous.

"They are just not meant to be here. I can understand they have got to go somewhere."

But Alanda Thompson, of Kingston Road, who used to live on a boat, said: "A few people have come up to moan about it. They aren't going to hurt anyone are they?"