A group of travellers who arrived on Kew Green last week have now left.

Richmond Council took legal action when travellers “refused to leave” the green on Wednesday evening (August 4).

A court order was granted on Friday evening (August 6), and High Court enforcement officers attended the site on August 7 to remove the travellers.

Council officers were on site immediately after to search for any damage.

The group left some bags of rubbish, which council contractors cleared, but no damage has been caused to the site.

Traveller Tina Connors previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We don’t really stay in one place too long anyway but we don’t get long enough. Maybe if we got a week to 10 days somewhere, we’d move again but we don’t, we only get two or three days.

“We won’t stay for months or permanently stay in the place. Maybe we could move to Birmingham tomorrow or move to Chester or somewhere.”

The 24-year-old added: “We’re not all the same, we bag our rubbish, we keep the place clean, we keep our children under control.

“I know some travellers do give a bad reputation for other travellers but we don’t. We try to leave it clean and tidy before we leave.”

Richmond environment councillor Julia Neden-Watts, said:  “Thanks to our prompt action we were able to get a court hearing as soon as possible.

“This resulted in a Possession Order and the High Court enforcement officers were able to evict the group.”

She added: “I would like to thank the police, our legal team, park guard officers and our street cleaning team who monitored the site throughout and cleared the waste left in the area.

“I would also like to thank local residents for their support and understanding.”