Club Cricket Conference

Sunday, 10th November 2024

Havering CC another victim of summer traveller trespass

By Charles Randall

17 July 2017


The  problem of traveller convoys parking on cricket grounds remains a threat to some clubs throughout the summer, especially those with private facilities without the back-up of  local council resources.

Apart from any damage caused, the problem of removal can be very expensive for clubs with their own land. Havering-Atte-Bower CC, through the chairman's daughter, recently set up a justgiving account in an effort to subsidise some of the £3,000 bailiff and legal fees for the  removal of 10 caravans parked on their beautiful  Broxhill Road ground in Romford, Essex.  A blizzard of small donations swelled the fund to £1,700 in a few weeks, mostly  from people sympathetic to Havering's plight.  Rainham CC, Essex rivals, sent £150.

The traveller encampment covered the square and outfield. Spoilation affected Havering's weekend Mid-Essex League Division Two matches and youth training while officials went through the eviction procedure under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

At Eight Ash CC, another Essex club, travellers with a dozen caravans spread rubbish, damaged the outfield and used the club's water supply to wash vehicles before they were evicted by police.

Residents claimed there were threats of violence and reported a number of incidents of anti-social behaviour.  The Cricketers pub nearby closed early at 6pm on a Friday  due to concerns for customers’ welfare, and cricket was cancelled.

At Rusthall CC on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells travellers were served with an eviction notice soon after arriving at the common and they left, leaving behind all sorts of rubbish on the ground, including human excrement and frozen food packages.

On private land, if persuasion fails, the landowner usually has to fund removal of trespassers through a county court order and bailiffs. On council land the police can use section 61 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, prohibiting return within three months. They can activate these powers where they are satisfied that two or more more people are trespassing on the land and that the landowner has taken reasonable steps to make them leave. Other factors include damage to the land or property and abusive behaviour. Even then, any enforcement of section 61 often requires heavy resourcing.