DOZENS of travellers have made a farm in Thornbury their home after removing a farm gate from its hinges for access.

About 15 caravans are still on land which is part of Hackett Farm, just off Morton Way.

An extra chain was put on the gate after a small group of people in a pickup truck sped up to the gate and rattled it before moving off yesterday evening.

Shortly after 6.30pm the gate was taken off its hinges and the travellers moved onto the field. Some were prevented from accessing the farm after a car was parked in front of the gates.

The farm is run by Tom Grey who confronted the travellers when they first arrived and attempted to block the gate with a tractor trailer.

He said: “They were very aggressive and were shouting abuse at me and my elderly father whilst we were trying to reverse the tractor in front of the gate.

“In the end we couldn’t do anything. They were threatening us and blocked us from reversing our tractor.”

The travellers had just been moved on from Lime Kiln Field in Alveston after being served a notice by the police for causing disruption on the site which is close by to a preschool.

After that they split into two groups with some of the travellers moving into Thornbury with police arriving again, shortly after.

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Constabulary said that the travellers had agreed to move on this morning (June 30) and that police will be returning to the field to remind them of their agreement.

The spokesman added that it would be difficult for the police to force the travellers off the field because they have to prove that they are causing disruption and that the farmers may have to take action themselves.