TRAVELLERS briefly set up camp on the car park behind Asda's Ellesmere Port store last week.

Their arrival on the borough council-owned land came a month after they were evicted from the Blue Planet Aquarium where bosses obtained a court order to evict the unwanted visitors.

Last week's episode in the town centre involved up to a dozen vehicles and a stay of less than 48 hours after police intervened.

However, the travellers' arrival angered one resident in the town, who contacted the Pioneer to vent his frustration.

The man, who refused to be named, said: 'My wife works at Asda and told me the staff were fed up with seeing these people arrive.

'While staff and members of the public have been issued with parking tickets by the council I bet none of the travellers were issued any tickets for their illegal stay. It's outrageous.

'I know a lot of people who are sick of the sight of them. They tend to leave the place in a mess and it's only a few weeks ago that they were told to leave the Blue Planet.'

The borough council's head of technical services, Jane Williamson, said: 'Travellers arrived in Asda's car park on Wednesday morning. As they were camping in an unauthorised and particularly sensitive area, it was a matter for the police.'

The travellers were in breach of Section 61 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

Ms Williamson added: 'The police used their statutory powers to issue notice to the travellers to vacate the sight, which required them to leave by 5pm on Thursday.'

Ellesmere Port police said yesterday morning that they had received a report of travellers blocking Bridges road in the town, and they dealt with it quickly.