THE travellers parked up in Canon Street Car Park have been giving 24 hours to leave.

Somerset West and Taunton Council served some notices on the group yesterday (Wednesday), warning they would take the issue to court if the travellers fail to leave.

Some of the travellers have reportedly alreay left the site.

An SWT spokesperson said: "Our asset management team have reported back that there is currently only one encampment at Canon Street Car Park – the vans that were parked adjacent to the former probation office are no longer on site.

"The vans on the opposite side, adjacent to the church, have today been served with S77 notices, giving them 24 hours to vacate before we apply to magistrates.

"The first notices were served yesterday (Wednesday, October 13)."

 

 

A GROUP of travellers camped up in a Taunton car park say they are doing nothing wrong.

Several adults and children arrived at Canon Street Car Park in a number of caravans, camper vans and 4X4 vehicles on Tuesday evening.

They are parked on two sides of the car park close to the Canon Street entrance.

A man who lives nearby claims one of the travellers was abusive towards him as he walked through the car park.

He said: "They asked me, 'What are you doing in here?'

"I replied, 'What are you doing here?'

"I don't know how they got past the barriers."

One of the travellers approached by the County Gazette this morning (Thursday) denied any knowledge of a confrontation and said "people are wrong" to criticise travellers.

The man, who said his name is John Flynn, added: "We're travellers. We just move around, going from car park to car park.

"We just see a car park, we pull in for a couple of days.

"We came Tuesday evening and we're probably leaving this evening or in the morning.

"We've had no contact with the council at all. We've all got tickets for the car park. We're not doing anything wrong.

"Before we came here we were in Bristol. It's our first time in Taunton.

"We've not had any problems here so far.

"There are lots of adults and children. I'm here with my wife and three children.

"It's our life and we enjoy it. We wouldn't like to live in a house."

The County Gazette has approached the car park owner Somerset West and Taunton Council for a comment.