A GROUP of travellers have once again pitched up in a car park in Southend.

The group arrived at the Rendezvous Casino car park on Eastern Esplanade on Saturday morning.

Judith McMahon, of Pleasant Road, said: “The Tesco Express is many people’s local shop, including me, picking up bread on the way home from work.

“Taking a picture I was chased off the Tesco car parking spots and I hid inside the shop, face mask and hood as cover.”

Matt Dent, councillor for Kursaal Ward, said he would be pursuing the leaseholder of the land to ensure more security measures can be put in place at the site. He said: “This is the third such incident at this car park this summer.

“My primary concern is the nuisance and disturbance caused to residents of adjacent properties on each occasion.

“The responsibility for keeping the site secure rests with the leaseholder of the Kursaal, and it’s clear to me that they have not taken adequate measures to discharge this duty.

“I will be speaking with the relevant council departments around the future of the lease.”

A spokesman for Essex Police confirmed the force had attended the scene on Saturday and would continue to monitor the situation.

A group of travellers previously pitched up on the car park for the casino, which closed earlier this year, on August 11.

Tory opposition councillors such as Tony Cox and Dan Nelson have called for a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) to be imposed on the site to prevent further incursions.

But council leader Ian Gilbert said it would be difficult due to the car park being the property of the leaseholder of the Kursaal.

He said: “The issue with a PSPO is, my understanding is the statutory guidelines say it should be deployed to private land.

“I think it would be legally very difficult to use that.

“If the Government introduce the law to introduce a new framework that will obviously make a difference.”