A FARMER whose land was invaded by travellers has voiced his anger that he had to seek a court order to have them moved on.

More than 30 caravans set up camp on Parley Court Farm, near the entrance of Bournemouth International Airport in Hurn, at the end of August.

And on Wednesday, farmer Hugh Dampney was granted a possession order at Bournemouth County Court to force the travellers to leave his land.

He said: "We had locks on the gates to stop travellers getting in, but unfortunately we had to unlock them for a county horse show. We opened the gates and by the time we had closed them after the horse show, there were 30 to 40 travellers in there.

"The process of getting these people moved on is a joke. But until trespassing becomes a criminal offence instead of civil, there's no option.

"It's a pity some people put themselves above the law.

"Thankfully they will be gone before I start to cultivate the land. I will approach the council to see if they'll help with the clear-up."

Yesterday morning, bailiffs put up enforcement notices at the site and by the evening many caravans had moved on, but around 15 were still left at the site.

Mr Dampney said: "The ones that have gone left behind a mess of brick rubble and garden waste along with a few bags of household rubbish and gas cylinders."