SEAFRONT traders say travellers “caused chaos” with some even claiming they were forced to shut amid concerns over staff safety.

Business bosses say the group, which pitched up in the Rendezvous Casino car park at Southend’s Kursaal, caused them to temporarily shut over serious safety fears.

A large number of firms closed on Monday, including Tesco at the Kursaal, Adventure Inside, Pebbles One Cafe, Spar, Sealife Adventure as well as arcades and other businesses.

The group was ordered to leave yesterday afternoon.

Paul Thompson, who runs Pebbles One Cafe, Baskin Robbins and Spar on Southend seafront said he could not re-open until the group left the casino car park.

He said: “The travellers have been terrorising our businesses including mine and our pubs too.

“They’ve been threatening to kill my staff and we’ve had to call police a few times too. It’s not good enough and police and Southend Council are not doing enough. I do not want to open until they’ve gone – my staff have been crying and don’t want to work due to the abuse and threats. They’re very intimidating. We were shut for a long time due to Covid-19 and now we’ve got all this.”

John Remblance runs most of the seafront arcades including Electric Avenue, Las Vegas, and New York claimed the group had been causing a nuisance, with some chairs being taken.

He also claimed his son had been threatened.

The 51-year-old told the Echo: “We had them taking chairs from our business and we had to wrestle the chairs off them – they also stole basketballs from our arcade machines.

“We’ve had to call 999 numerous times and at the weekend there were about 150 of them causing trouble on the seafront for us and other businesses too.

“I feel very let down by Essex Police and Southend Council over what’s been happening. The travellers have been in and out of the car park for weeks and nothing was done about it.”

Bosses behind Stockvale which owns Adventure Inside and Sealife Adventure along with other venues said the indoor play centre and fun park and aquarium were shut on Monday.

Philip Miller, MBE, executive chairman of the Stockvale said: “We were open again on Tuesday and we closed for a few hours on Monday, that was all. The police gave advice to traders along Marine Parade to close so we just followed suit.

“It’s such a shame that a small minority of the traveller community can create such havoc for businesses and residents alike.”

A Tesco spokesman said: “Our Kursaal Southend Express is now open as normal after closing temporarily on Monday. We are sorry for any inconvenience that this has caused.”