A large group of travellers in motorhomes descended on a car park adjoining the exclusive Sandbanks beach, where they lit bonfires, emptied chemical toilets and drank in groups while flouting Covid lockdown rules.
Around ten vehicles parked up on the same road as football manager Harry Redknapp’s multimillion pound seafront mansion in Poole, Dorset yesterday.
One group of ten men were seen ignoring social distancing rules by sitting at an outdoor table – with several boxes of Corona beer on the ground next to them – while one traveller was spotted emptying a chemical toilet in the nearby bushes during their overnight stay.
The sun-soaked area on the south coast peninsula is renowned as a millionaire’s playground where £10million properties play host to business moguls and celebrities alike.
So locals were shocked to see all the caravans turn up, and could only watch as the occupants started bonfires in the car park before bedding down for the night.
A large group of travellers in motorhomes descended on a car park adjoining the exclusive Sandbanks beach, in Poole, Dorset, on Sunday while flouting Covid lockdown rules
One group of ten men were seen ignoring social distancing rules by sitting at an outdoor table – with several boxes of Corona beer on the ground next to them
One traveller was spotted emptying a chemical toilet in the nearby bushes during their overnight stay. Around 40 people were belived to be in the group which arrived at the car park
Another cluster of travellers were spotted enjoying the warm weekend weather while sitting closely together at a table by one of their vehicles yesterday
Locals were shocked to see all the caravans turn up, and could only watch as the occupants started bonfires in the car park before bedding down for the night
Staff from Dorset council arrived this morning to clean up the rubbish left by the travellers, who started leaving at 8.30am
Staff from Dorset council arrived this morning to clean up the rubbish left by the travellers, who started leaving at 8.30am.
One angry traveller reportedly urinated against a council truck in protest at being thrown out the car park. MailOnline has contacted Dorset Council for comment.
It comes as Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council, along with Dorset Police, have reiterated their ‘think twice’ campaign after a huge influx of campervans in the area during the hot weather.
Dorset Police has issued 875 fixed penalty notices between March 27 and May 21 to people who have allegedly breached the Covid-19 restrictions.
Football manager and former player Harry Redknapp, and his wife, Sandra, spoke to Weekend magazine in February about their home of 20 years in Sandbanks – where one 850ft street with 13 properties was valued at £93 million a couple of years ago.
Their home is about 1,000 metres up the road from where the travellers descended on Sunday.
‘We moved to Bournemouth in 1972 when I came to play football. We paid £4 a week rent for a four-bedroom house until we bought it off the club for £15,000,’ said 73-year-old I’m A Celebrity winner Harry.
‘Sandbanks is down the road from Bournemouth but we didn’t know about it then. It became the place to be 20 years ago, so they started building new houses.’
Shocked locals look on as their local car park fills up with the campervans – amid outcry that local authorities are not doing enough to combat the problem
The scenes come as Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council, along with Dorset Police, have reiterated their ‘think twice’ campaign after a huge influx of campervans in the area during the hot weather
Police have warned lockdown-breaking campers to keep away after many ignored no staying overnight rules amid fears of a second spike of coronavirus deaths
A specialist team from Dorset Council arrived early this morning to remove the motorhomes from the car park. One angry traveller reportedly urinated against a council truck in protest at being thrown out
Meanwhile, thousands of Britons have flocked to beaches over the Bank Holiday weekend to bask in 80F temperatures.
Police have warned lockdown-breaking campers to keep away after many ignored no staying overnight rules amid fears of a second spike of coronavirus deaths.
Devon and Cornwall’s police and crime commissioner Alison Hernandez warned people to ‘think twice’ before they ‘break the rules by staying overnight, parking illegally or driving dangerously’.
Harry Redknapp in the garden of his home of 20 years in Sandbanks. It is around 1,000 metres from where the travellers descended on Sunday
The sun-soaked area on the south coast peninsula is renowned as a millionaire’s playground where £10million properties play host to business moguls and celebrities alike