TRAVELLERS who set up camp outside Wychavon council premises in Pershore have been hit with court costs for an order taken out to get them to move.

The group, previously on land near Pershore Abbey, moved off the district council car park at the Civic Centre in the town's Queen Elizabeth Drive on Sunday.

They have now moved on to playing fields in Beckford, east of Tewkesbury, and also in the Wychavon District. The land is believed to be owned by Beckford Community Council.

However, the council went to Worcester County Court yesterday to withdraw an order to get the travellers to move from the Queen Elizabeth Drive site yesterday as they had already gone.

The judge ordered that the travellers pay £500 to the local authority to cover its legal costs.

The group had been on the council's car park since Tuesday last week and were recently ordered off the controversial Eckington site.

The council's managing director Jack Hegarty, who previously branded the move a political protest, said the travellers had gone of their own accord.

"Unfortunately, the problem has just moved to somewhere else to impact on the lives of another rural community and again is a trespass on private land," he added.