Travellers who trashed a park and left taxpayers to foot the bill are to be pursued for fly-tipping.

The group of 20 vehicles occupied the Beverley Meadow in St Stephen’s in Canterbury on Wednesday to Sunday and dumped electrical goods and left rubbish strewn around the popular open space.

On Monday, the city council’s cleaning contractor Serco moved on to the field to clear its waste.

The travellers are the same group who had invaded the Kingsmead Field and left detritus including toilet tissue on the banks of the River Stour while ignoring official requests to leave.

A dog walker reported that she was threatened by a young member of the group.

Council spokesman Rob Davies said: “We have had our enforcement officers at both sites dealing with this and working through the legal process as quickly as it would allow.

"They are also investigating the flytipping to see if we can pursue any action, and we have shared our concerns about the fly-tipping and criminal damage with the police.

“In addition, one of our officers who was off-duty spotted an attempted entrance to another site on Sunday afternoon and reported it to our enforcement team who were there very quickly. Thanks to her diligence, this attempt was thwarted.

“Clearly the two encampments have caused disruption and left behind a considerable mess and we’ll be reviewing what’s happened over the last week to see if there are any lessons we can learn.

“We’re very grateful to Serco for such a speedy response to this and the previous clean up at Kingsmead Field.”

The metal gate which prevents access to the Beverley Meadow had been forced open and the council says it fixed it immediately after the travellers’ departure.

Scorch marks from fires were also found on the grass.

St Stephen’s ward councillor and anti-litter campaigner Terry Westgate was appalled by the state of the Beverley Meadow.

“It was shocking, a complete mess,” the Conservative said.

“Unfortunately, these are people who have no respect for any of the places they stay at. I’m glad that the council’s enforcement team is following this up.

“I suppose the only good thing is that the travellers have gone now and the clean up has taken place.”