AROUND 20 travellers caravans and vehicles pulled onto a field on the outskirts of Poole overnight.

A spokesman for the farmers who rent the land, who asked not to be named, told the Daily Echo the gate had been lifted from its hinges and a chain cut.

The same field was invaded by a group of travellers for two weeks in the summer of 2011, leaving farmers with a hefty £7,000 bill.

Less than a mile away, on a grass verge by the entrance to the Creekmoor Park & Ride site, another six caravans and traveller vehicles have been camped for a couple of weeks, residents say.

On the larger encampment, the farmers’ spokesman said: “When this happened before we had to have new fences put in place and new gates. It cost us around £7,000.

“Personally, my way to get rid of them would be to get a load of muck spreaders in there and spray the lot of them.

“There were lambs and sheep in here up until March and only last week we’d been cutting grass for silage.

“This is our livelihood, it is our field that we pay rent to the Borough of Poole on. These people do not pay rent. The problem is that residents employ them to do all manner of work, but these people aren’t insured. It you’re not happy with the work they do there’s no comeback.”

The travellers also arrived with around half a dozen horses and ponies, which are currently grazing in the field at the junction of Woodpecker Drive and Longmeadow Lane.

One concerned neighbour said: “The field was last occupied by travellers two years ago and they left a heck of a mess of rubbish and large empty canisters on the verge of Longmeadow Lane.

“They were not there at 6pm, last night (June 10), so the first wave arrived between then and 8am this morning.

“Given the size of the field there will be more arriving today, I am sure.”

Borough of Poole said they were monitoring the encampment and had handed our refuse bags to help with rubbish.