Travellers ruin village cricket pitch with five-day rampage

♦a village cricket ground has been left in ruins after travellers set up home on the outfield for five days.

Piles of human excrement and a mountain of rubbish, including plastic chairs and children’s toys, were left behind at Eight Ash Green in Colchester, Essex.

Parish councillor Josh Greenwold said volunteers banded together for a large-scale clean-up operation after the two groups of travellers finally left the site on Monday.

He said: “One of them had decided it would be a good idea to take a car on to the cricket pitch, so we are going to have to re-lay the entire wicket area.

“When the last vans were going there were two or three residents looking across the field in tears. I can fully understand that.

The club was forced to cancel a home match on Saturday and pay bailiffs to evict the travellers.

Mr Greenwold said the council would set up a system for residents to report any further incidents.