Tipton traveller stand-off: Drama as family barricade themselves in private yard

The drama unfolded at the site off Toll End Road in Tipton when owner Steve Dale hired enforcement officers from Penham Excel to move two caravans on.

Yesterday staff from the firm discovered a notice put up at the gated entrance to the site saying the travellers were now 'occupiers' and 'any attempt to enter these premises without permission is a criminal offence'.

Police officers, who were called out by the bailiffs, jumped over a side wall with Mr Dale's son Robert, aged 28, to gain access to the compound and open a lock fixed to the gate by the travellers when they arrived on Tuesday.

A traveller held his hands over the lock, while another obstructed a hinge on the gate to stop it being cut.

However, a Penham Excel enforcement officer cut through a hinge on the other side of the gate with an electric saw, 40 minutes after they arrived at 10am.

The travellers stood firm, moving their van and Mercedes car forward to block the gate and stop it from being opened.

More travellers then arrived with a van parking in front of the open gate, just minutes after a tow truck drafted in by the bailiffs to take the caravans and other vehicles away turned up.

A heated discussion followed – but the group agreed to leave, eventually moving on just before 1pm with 30 bin bags full of rubbish, furniture and wood scraps left in their wake.

Mr Dale, aged 70, from Wednesbury, led the efforts to remove the travellers, which he said would end up costing him around £2,500.

The site, previously home to The Old Crown pub and Swift Abrasives, was bought by Mr Dale in August with hopes to rent the building out or build 11 houses on it.

He said: "All I want to do is the see the back of them and for them to move on. I'm shocked. I didn't know how to deal with it at the time and now I'm having to pay my own money to get rid of them when they're on my property.

"The whole family has been stressed and we haven't slept for days."

"The law hasn't helped us at all and it needs to be changed. There's so many loopholes in the law and it's such a long process to be able to get them off the land. The longer they're on the land, the more damage, the more rubbish and the more money it will cost me."

The law states that when travellers arrive on private land, it is the landowner's responsibility to remove them and the local authorities and police can only be used when certain conditions exist – after a court order is obtained.

Mr Dale had initially accepted the travellers' offer of moving on today – but wanted to access the site and store some of his work vehicles.

In response, a traveller, who did not want to be named, said: "If you put your trailers on there, there's no guarantee that the kids won't slash the tyres and I can't be held responsible so I'd suggest keeping them out until we're gone.

"I can give you my word that we'll be gone by 10am tomorrow."

But after 30 minutes of deliberation between the enforcement officers, the travellers finally left the site. Enforcement officer Phil Roberts said he had moved the same family on from other sites twice before.

Mr Dale added: "It's a relief to have seen them go and I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

"Now I'm going to secure the property to make sure it doesn't happen again so we'll be putting concrete blocks across all the fencing.

"At the end of the day, the law has no control over them and they can do what they like."

A West Midlands Police spokesman said: "We were in attendance in a capacity to prevent breach of the peace only."