I have just completed a trespass case arising out of travellers squatting on some open land owned by my clients. I tend to get a number of these cases in the summer as travelling communities move around, perhaps looking for new work.
There are whole sections of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) devoted to the procedure for these kind of cases. The procedure can be quite fiddly and needs to be followed to the letter. There is a uniqueness insofar as the action is usually against 'persons unknown' and this has the consequence that there are peculiar rules for service of the court process. As far as open land is concerned service must be 'on a part of the land so that it is clearly visible' or by placing stakes in the land for the purpose of attaching the court process to this end. The latter was not possible in my recent case as the car park was tarmaced but we were able to affix to a nearby perimeter fence. The are rules about clear days of service before the hearing: 2 days (excluding weekends) is required for open (i.e. non-residential) land.
Courts can usually be persuaded to list these cases for hearing quite quickly, although a good relationship with the local court always helps! If the judge is satisfied that the procedure has been properly followed, the usual order is 'possession forthwith' but that is not the end of it as the order then has to be executed. The court bailiff has to be instructed by issue of a warrant. He will then visit to give formal notice of the actual eviction date to the trespassers. Usually the site is vacated just before this as the travellers move on elsewhere. I did have one case a few years ago when the same travellers moved to another client's site so I had two cases in quick succession!
It is very difficult of course to secure open land (which is why it is called open!) so although security measures will minimise the risk to some extent for farmers, councils and other major landowners, these type of cases are (literally!) something of an occupational hazard from time to time. My advice to landowners is see your solicitor immediately to get things going even if the travellers have agreed to leave in a few days as these promises regrettably are not always kept and precious time is lost. It does not mean that you should not keep a channel of communication going: rarely are travellers violent or abusive (whatever you may think of the morality of their actions) but they tend to know a certain amount about the law and may exploit your lack of it and particular any delay. They will often go, in short, only just before they have to go by law without being thrown off.
Nor is there any point in relying on the police. Whilst you should inform them to 'avoid a breach of a peace' their powers are limited. They can usually only rely on powers of persuasion, which causes further time to be lost, either because they do not have the powers, or where they do have the powers they lack the immediate resources. Unless there is some disturbance or damage, clear powers only exist for the police to move in when there are 6 or more vehicles and usually the problem is with smaller groups than this. http://www.urban75.org/legal/cja.html takes you to a ravers/squatters site where the police powers are summarised reasonably accurately as far as I have read it!
If you are the landowner, at no point take the law into your own hands and attempt force to evict. You could well commit a criminal offence yourself just by so doing. Nor should you do anything to put yourself at risk. This is surely a job for the experts.
There are whole sections of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) devoted to the procedure for these kind of cases. The procedure can be quite fiddly and needs to be followed to the letter. There is a uniqueness insofar as the action is usually against 'persons unknown' and this has the consequence that there are peculiar rules for service of the court process. As far as open land is concerned service must be 'on a part of the land so that it is clearly visible' or by placing stakes in the land for the purpose of attaching the court process to this end. The latter was not possible in my recent case as the car park was tarmaced but we were able to affix to a nearby perimeter fence. The are rules about clear days of service before the hearing: 2 days (excluding weekends) is required for open (i.e. non-residential) land.
Courts can usually be persuaded to list these cases for hearing quite quickly, although a good relationship with the local court always helps! If the judge is satisfied that the procedure has been properly followed, the usual order is 'possession forthwith' but that is not the end of it as the order then has to be executed. The court bailiff has to be instructed by issue of a warrant. He will then visit to give formal notice of the actual eviction date to the trespassers. Usually the site is vacated just before this as the travellers move on elsewhere. I did have one case a few years ago when the same travellers moved to another client's site so I had two cases in quick succession!
It is very difficult of course to secure open land (which is why it is called open!) so although security measures will minimise the risk to some extent for farmers, councils and other major landowners, these type of cases are (literally!) something of an occupational hazard from time to time. My advice to landowners is see your solicitor immediately to get things going even if the travellers have agreed to leave in a few days as these promises regrettably are not always kept and precious time is lost. It does not mean that you should not keep a channel of communication going: rarely are travellers violent or abusive (whatever you may think of the morality of their actions) but they tend to know a certain amount about the law and may exploit your lack of it and particular any delay. They will often go, in short, only just before they have to go by law without being thrown off.
Nor is there any point in relying on the police. Whilst you should inform them to 'avoid a breach of a peace' their powers are limited. They can usually only rely on powers of persuasion, which causes further time to be lost, either because they do not have the powers, or where they do have the powers they lack the immediate resources. Unless there is some disturbance or damage, clear powers only exist for the police to move in when there are 6 or more vehicles and usually the problem is with smaller groups than this. http://www.urban75.org/legal/cja.html takes you to a ravers/squatters site where the police powers are summarised reasonably accurately as far as I have read it!
If you are the landowner, at no point take the law into your own hands and attempt force to evict. You could well commit a criminal offence yourself just by so doing. Nor should you do anything to put yourself at risk. This is surely a job for the experts.
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