Travellers refuse to pay landowner to take away concrete bollards
Travellers have refused to pay a landowner to remove concrete bollards he used to block them into a car park, as a tense stand-off enters a second month.
A parking war has erupted in the seaside town of Bembridge on the Isle of Wight after a group of travellers settled in what used to be the biggest car park in the area.
Malcolm Thorpe, owner of Bembridge Harbour Authority, has taken matters into his own hands by placing 30 hefty 4ft-high concrete bollards in front of the car park’s entrance.
They completely block the car park entrance and can only be removed by crane.
He told the group they must pay him before they can leave the land, which he claims he bought in 2011, because of their ‘mistreatment’ of the area.
Mr Thorpe told the group that he will remove the bollards for free but they must leave the same day.
Traveller Pippa Amos, 24, said: ‘You can’t just entrap people. We can walk out but these vans are our homes, our lives.’
An aerial view of the carpark that has been blocked up with concrete bollards to keep vans trapped in at Bembridge Point
The tense stand-off has gone into its second month and the group of travellers have still refused to pay
Mr Thorpe told the group that he will remove the bollards for free but they must leave the same day
The owner of the car park set up 4ft-high concrete bollards in front of the car park’s entrance
Malcolm Thorpe (pictured) old the group they must pay him before they can leave the land, which he claims he bought in 2011
He has not disclosed the amount asked for but one of the group suggested it was as high as £500, The Telegraph reported.
But now the tense stand-off has gone into its second month and the group has still refused to pay.
Dale Coulson, 70, a traveller in the group, said he has no plans to leave.
He said that the group is ‘stuck here now’ but they feel like they are ‘fighting a cause for everybody’.
Many of the travellers have said that paying to leave is unthinkable.
Kimberly Campbell, 27, said she doesn’t have the money to pay to have the bollards removed and that she isn’t sure what her next steps will be.
Mr Thorpe said he erected the bollards because of an ‘unacceptable situation’.
The tense stand-off has gone into its second month and the group has still refused to pay
Some of the residents have slammed the decision to add the bollards as ‘inconsiderate’, claiming it is potentially dangerous
He claims the traveller group were ‘excreting on the land’ and putting their litter on the roadside.
He said: ‘There were a lot of things that were happening that meant we said, ‘Sorry, we can’t approve this’.
‘If they came as a group and said they were all wanting to leave, I would do it free of charge.
‘But if they wanted to leave individually, they would have to pay for a crane to come and move the bollards away, it’s the only way they’re going to move them now.’
There are only two other car parks in Bembridge and they are both over a mile away on the other side of town.
The car park was once used by tourists and residents to park outside the Harbour View Cafe and they would visit the beach for the day or go to the pub.
Some of the residents have slammed the decision to add the bollards as ‘inconsiderate’, claiming it is potentially dangerous.
Ian Woodward, 59, a Bembridge resident for 20 years, said he witnessed in the space of an hour and a half, 15 cars pulling up trying to get into the car park.
He claims they all had to back out, straight on to the road which is ‘illegal’.
But while Bembridge locals are growing frustrated at traffic pile-ups caused by the bollards, Mr Thorpe is confident they will make the travellers leave.
Mr Thorpe posted a notice to the travellers and has given them an ultimatum to leave on August 19, when he will move the bollards – or pay an undisclosed fee
View from Nodes Point on the Isle of Wight to the picturesque surrounds of Bembridge harbour, where the dispute is taking place
In April, the occupants at Bembridge Point were first asked to move their vans to one half of the car park, as the other is designated a village green.
The bollards were put in place to separate the two sides.
On July 22 they were given letters saying that the whole car park was being blocked off and that any remaining vehicles would be charged a ‘removal fee’.
Two days later, the bollards were put in place.
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Constabulary have said the issue is a civil matter.
Isle of Wight council said that because the dispute is on private land, it has no jurisdiction.
A council spokesperson said: ‘The council provides advice and assistance to anyone who finds themselves homeless, or who are threatened with homelessness within 56 days.’
