Travellers stand-off

ACAFE owner who blockaded travellers trespassing on land near his business claims they offered to leave of their own accord but only if he gave them £8,000.

Jonathan Williams-Ellis blocked the squatters in with a mechanical digger during the early hours of Monday on land near his Puffin Cafe next to the A55 at Penmaenmawr.

A convoy of six caravans pitched up at the site on Saturday afternoon while Mr Williams-Ellis was in Scotland on holiday.

He returned on Sunday and asked them to move, which the travellers declined to do.

So he used a mechanical digger to make an earth barrier and locked a gate as a blockade.

After another caravan, a digger and two vehicles arrived in the cafe’s car park on Sunday he decided to take further action.

At around 4am on Monday he used the digger to block the convoy in completely.

A tense stand-off ensued, mediated by North Wales Police, who had been called out by Mr Wil- liams-Ellis.

The stand-off ended when the travellers decided to leave.

Mr Williams-Ellis said: “One of them said to me this morning ‘we will leave if you give us £8,000’.

“They know the law and I have done this because the alternative is it costs five or six grand to go through the courts.”

Mr Williams-Ellis said he had no choice but to block the travellers in, adding: “I did it because it was my only option.

“I had the choice of losing about £500 this morning, or doing nothing and losing thousands.”

In total seven caravans, two vans, a trailer with a digger, a pick-up truck, 4x4, Land Rover and two cars took up residence on the cafe owner’s land.

At least eight police officers were in attendance throughout Monday morning.

Mr Williams-Ellis added: “It’s frustrating I had to take the law into my own hands.

“I told them they could leave but only once they fixed their caravans to their vans. I asked them to leave and they said they could be here for months. I said I think you will find it a little more difficult tomorrow.

“If you’re not a strong character you can be intimidated.”

Police stood by as the travellers finally accepted defeat and moved on just before 11.30am, having been on the land for less than 48 hours.

“I decided to play them at their own game,” Mr Williams-Ellis said.