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A group of travellers trespassed on land near a cafe and asked the owner for £8,000 to leave – so he blocked them in with a mechanical digger.

Jonathan Williams-Ellis was on holiday in Scotland when a convoy of six or seven caravans arrived on land close to the Puffin Cafe.

When he returned he asked the group to move on from the land next to the westbound carriageway of the A55 at Penmaenmawr, Conwy.

When they refused he used a mechanical digger to make an earth barrier and locked a gate as a blockade.

Tense stand-off

After another caravan, a digger, and two more vehicles arrived in the cafe’s car park on Sunday he decided to take further action.

At around 4am on Monday he used the digger to block the convoy in completely.

A tense stand-off ensued, mediated by North Wales Police, who had been called out by Mr Williams-Ellis.

The stand-off ended when the travellers decided to leave.

The Puffin Cafe boss told the Daily Post: “One of them said to me this morning ‘We will leave if you give us £8,000.

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'It was my only option'

“They know the law and I have done this because the alternative is it costs five or six grand to go through the courts.”

Mr Williams-Ellis said he had no choice but to block the travellers in.

“I did it because it was my only option,” he said.

“I had the choice of losing about £500 this morning or doing nothing and losing thousands.”

What happened next:

In total seven caravans, two vans, a trailer with a digger, a pick-up truck, a 4x4, Land Rover and two cars took up residence on his land.

At least eight police officers were in attendance at the Puffin Cafe throughout Monday morning.

Mr Williams-Ellis added: “It’s frustrating that I had to take the law into my own hands and behave like they have.

Less than 48 hours

“I told them they could leave the site but only once they fixed their caravans to their transit vans.

“I asked them to leave and they said they could be here for months.

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“I said ‘I think you will find it a little more difficult tomorrow’.

“If you’re not a strong character you can be intimidated.”

Police stood by as the travellers finally accepted defeat and moved on just before 11.30am on Monday morning having been on the land for fewer than 48 hours.

“I decided to play them at their own game,” Mr Williams-Ellis said.