Parking row ultimatum on beautiful UK island as travellers cause chaos in seaside town
A landowner says travellers should leave a car park where they have settled.
The owner of a car park who blocked travellers from leaving the site has given the group an ultimatum in a bid to get them off his land.
Malcolm Thorpe claims he bought the land near Bembridge on the Isle of Wight in 2011 and decided to stop the makeshift settlement by dropping 30 concrete bollards across the way into the car park.
It meant the travellers were unable to leave with their vehicles and visitors couldn't use the place to park.
The group first settled there more than two years ago, but Mr Thorpe told the Telegraph the situation was "unacceptable", claiming travellers were defecating on the land and littering the roadside.
Mr Thorpe has now repeated an ultimatum to the travellers, telling them he will remove the concrete blocks as long as they leave on the same day.
He said if the travellers came as a group and said they all wanted to leave, he would do it for free.
The landowner added if they wanted to leave individually they would have to pay for a crane to move the bollards away. He said: "It’s the only way they’re going to move them now."
Traveller Dale Coulson, 70, said he is not planning to leave and claimed his vehicle is parked on a village green.
He told the Telegraph: "We feel like we're fighting a cause for everybody... We'll be a thorn in his side until he moves on."
Fellow traveller, Pippa, previously told the Isle of Wight Observer local people have had access to the land for years with the group loving and respecting the site.
Don't miss...
UK passport holders sent warning as 200 people a day refused flight entry [REPORT]
Stats reveal how often firefighters are called out to help move obese person [LATEST]
Retired couple risk losing life savings over bitter neighbour fence row [REVEALED]
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said the issue is a civil matter while Isle of Wight Council said it was private land and so outside its jurisdiction.
Isle of Wight East MP Joe Robertson told the Observer he has sympathy with the landowner and had received complaints from worried locals.
He said earlier this month: "I hope that the travellers can be persuaded to leave and the whole beach and car park area can be clear for members of the public to use."
Pippa, 24, said the travellers had been in limbo and were unsure what would happen. She insisted many local people felt angry at the way the group had been treated.
Mr Thorpe said he believed his efforts would encourage the travellers "one way or another".
