A BUILDING firm is facing a bill running into thousands of pounds after evicting travellers it claims left the vacated land like a rubbish dump.

Carter and Ward, of Runwell Road, Wickford, was yesterday cleaning up green space it owns at the end of Tresco Way, on the Wick estate, after around 15 traveller families pulled off in caravans at 10.30am.

They had been there since March 15, after breaking through a fence.

There were more than 20 truck loads of tree cuttings and building waste sprawled across the land.

Before leaving, the travellers told the Echo the flytipping was not down to them and blamed people from outside the camp.

However, following the departure there was more mounds of green waste, plus gas canisters, dozens of bags full of rubbish, a sink, toilet and even a copy of the Diary of Anne Frank dumped.

A dog walker in his fifties, who asked not to be named, said: “It’s disgusting.

“They should take all the registration numbers and then freeze the people’s bank accounts until they come back and clear it all up.

“That would get them back, but the authorities are too soft.”

Staff from Carter and Ward said the travellers had smashed through a locked fence to gain access.

Repairs are already under way to prevent re-entry.

A court order to evict the travellers cost £3,000 and the bill to remove all the rubbish and repair the fence is expected to also run into thousands.

A director from Carter & Ward, who did not want to be named, said: “We estimate the total cost to be at least £5,000. They must have had something mechanical to get in, because they snapped two-inch scaffold poles.

“We don’t expect to get the money back. Over the years we have suffered similar incidents.”