What nerve! Now brazen travellers turn up at police dog training site
TRAVELLERS have taken over a former health centre car park where Scotland Yard trains police dogs twice a week.
More than 15 caravans and trucks are stationed on the site, which is next to a quiet residential street where apartments cost an average £320,000.
Locals in Surbiton, South-West London, are in uproar at the noise and disruption caused by the visitors, with a loud generator on constantly and truckloads of rubbish being ferried in and out all day. The encampment, made up of several families, was set up after the travellers entered the privately owned site on Monday night. Police visited twice on Tuesday, but they refused to leave and one traveller became aggressive.
One resident, who has lived nearby for more than two decades, said: ‘It’s not right, something needs to be done. The police train their dogs here for several hours a couple of times a week. Surely they can do something about it?’
Property developers are planning to build several flats on the site but signs on the railings advertise that it is being used by the Met in the meantime.
Even though they use the land, police can only take action if the landlord has taken reasonable steps to get rid of trespassers and officers admit they do not know if the travellers have been given notice to leave. The Met is therefore unlikely to train dogs on thee site until the camp moves on. Lastt night the travellers were still theree after erecting lighting and drapingg tarpaulin over the gate for extraa privacy. Several adults have beenn seen driving truckloads of usedd utility parts, such as pipes and oldd washbasins, in and out.
The Metropolitan Police said: ‘The police use many sites for thee purposes of training dogs andd does not own or lease the land.’