Travellers set up camp during charity match - Sussex

From the Argus

Travellers disrupted a charity rugby match after setting up camp in popular playing fields.

Around 30 travelling caravans and trucks pitched up at the Waterhall playing fields in Patcham on Thursday evening.

The unannounced visit, at around 7.15pm, came in the middle of a charity rugby match hosted by Brighton Rugby Football Club.

The convoy of vehicles blocked the road leading onto the site and left visitors to the match unable to enter or leave.

Yesterday the car park had been closed completely, leaving dog owners unable to park their vehicles and walk their pets.

Brighton and Hove City Council visited the site with Sussex Police yesterday morning and carried out health and welfare checks.

The authority said it was now in the process of applying for possession of the land in the county court.

A spokesman from Brighton Rugby Club claimed rubbish had been fly-tipped in the corner of the fields and complained quad bikes were being driven across the grass.

He said: “They’re a nuisance. No one could get in or out of the site on Thursday during the charity match.

“We also had a football match taking place and a training session.”

It’s believed the Travellers arrived at the Waterhall site prior to being evicted from land in Stanmer Park, Brighton, yesterday morning.

Brighton and Hove City Council confirmed there was no longer any official Travellers’ sites in the city after the Horsdean site closed in April.

A spokeswoman for Sussex Police said: “It is the responsibility of the landowner to go through the court process to remove Travellers from a site.

“If this is not successful, then again it is for the landowner to apply to the court for an eviction order.

“At this point, the police will attend to ensure there is no breach of the peace or any other criminal offence committed.”