A GROUP of travellers set up camp today on a derelict car park behind the former Mototora building at Groundwell.

Several caravans, trailers and horse boxes are on the site, which is through some metal gates at the end of Latham Road, about 500 yards past the David Lloyds Sports Centre.

The private car park was used by Motorola employees but it seems to be un-used nowadays by Vygon, one of the UK’s leading suppliers of medical devices, which bought the iconic building and grounds in 2011. Wiltshire Police and Swindon Council are aware of the encampment.

Coun Peter Heaton-Jones (Con, St Andrews), who visited the site after being alerted by the Adver, said he had referred the matter to Coun Vera Tomlinson (also Con, St Andrews), who is the cabinet member for a stronger and safer borough.

He said: “It’s not near any residential area at all. It’s not even visible from any residential area.

“As I was driving along the A419 supur road, the bit you have to go down to get to the main A419 junction, I could see a couple of caravans from over the hedge but that’s all.”

Coun Heaton-Jones said it was not clear how the caravans got onto the site but the gate was wide open and the chain and the combination lock showed no sign of having been broken or cut.

He said he had spoken to some PCSOs near the site. “They said they’re in charge,” he said. “They said the police had been up to look at the site, they had been right up into the site, they had recorded all the registrations of the caravans up there and they were going around talking to local businesses to make them aware the police were dealing with it.”

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: “We got quite a few calls this morning just before 9.20am from various people including the landowner that a number of caravans had parked up in a car park off Latham Road. We have gone out there this morning and we have spoken to the travellers that were on the site.

“They have told us that we intend to stay until next weekend. We went down there and we counted 35 vehicles including caravans, trailers and horse boxes.

“The landowner has asked us to move the caravans off. In order for us to do that we need an official letter from the landowner’s solicitor sent to our duty inspector. And if they do that we can do something under a section 61 notice which is an official notice for them to leave.”