Herefordshire Council plans to evict, pursue and prosecute travellers who have defied foot and mouth restrictions by parking caravans on Riverside Park Walk.

On Thursday, there were five vans on the site, off Ledbury Bypass, which falls within a 3km foot and mouth protection zone.

The travellers arrived over a week ago and gained access to the site through a gate that had been removed from its hinges.

They now face not just eviction orders, but individual fines of up to £5,000 under the Foot And Mouth Disease Order 1983 and section 73 of the Animal Health Act, 1981.

Andrew Tector, Herefordshire Council's head of environmental health and trading standards, said: "The council is working its way through the legal system to gain possession of the site."

Concerning the breach of the foot and mouth regulations, Mr Tector said: "I think there's a good deal of confusion regarding what we can or can't do.

"The legal advice I'm receiving is, although we have powers of prosecution, that does not bring powers of arrest.

"But we are currently drawing up prosecution reports for our legal department."

Mr Tector said the eviction orders could take a week, although to prosecute the travellers would take longer.

He said: "Inevitably, it will be several weeks before we get a court date and they will probably be gone before then. But we will pursue them, if possible."

Ledbury footpaths officer Mike Woodbridge received six phone calls from dog walkers annoyed that foot and mouth restrictions had been openly breached, when there are still few places where dogs can be legally walked.

Town councillor Joan Cooper questioned why the evictions and prosecutions hadn't happened yet.

She said: "I'm just completely amazed that it takes so long. They should have been off that site in 24 hours, or they should be quarantined and tested.

"I'm a dog walker and if I walked my dog down there I'd be prosecuted!"