Brazen Travellers have swamped Dundee’s Camperdown Park just hours after leaving tons of rubbish at another prominent site in the city.
A conservation group has been left “horrified” after nearly 40 caravans, along with vans, trailers and horse boxes, occupied the city’s biggest public park.
Their arrival comes just hours after a group of a similar size left a prominent site on Riverside Drive having been ordered to move on by council officials.
Officers, understood to be from Dundee City Council, visited Camperdown in an attempt to move the latest camp on. The Travellers are believed to be the same group that came from Riverside Drive.
Park users hit out at the seemingly instant arrival of the group at one of Dundee’s most picturesque spots.
Kim Jones, 40, from Invergowrie, who runs a mums and buggies club in the park, said: “It is absolutely ridiculous.
“The park isn’t a campsite it’s a public space for everybody. This is not ground for camping if it is, they need to open it for everyone to camp. It is a community area which was given to the city to use as a park.”
Tobi Brown, 38, who was visiting family in the city, said she hoped no mess would be left after the Travellers departed.
James Crawford, of Friends of Camperdown House, said: “It’s a difficult situation and I am horrified by it.
“I just hope that they are moved on to one of the places they are supposed to be.”
City council leader Ken Guild said the Travellers’ use of public spaces as a campsite was “completely unacceptable”.
He said: “When Travellers come to the city it tends to be seasonal and at this time of the year, when they are on the way to Aberdeen, they tend to stop off.
“Regardless, it’s completely irresponsible for them to park up the way that they do, and the council are seeking further powers to deal with them.
“In this situation, there is a big difference between parking on the derelict sites and somewhere like the playing fields that are for public use.
“It’s completely unacceptable.”
A spokeswoman for the city council which is to examine new ways of dealing with the Traveller problem confirmed that they are aware of the camp.
She added: “We are assessing the situation.”