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A small group of travellers who have set up camp in the car park of Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park have said they will leave if they are given £1,500.

The demand is the equivalent of what it will cost for a court order to be made to evict them which will take 48 hours to obtain.

Two caravans, a motor home and three vehicles were first spotted in the car park early this morning.

Tony Rowe, chief executive and chairman of Exeter Rugby Club, said: "The situation is still under control and the travellers are not causing problems with people coming and leaving.

"We have got security on site and the police have visited but they can't do anything as the travellers on are on private land. We have now taken steps to apply for an order to get them removed.

"We have had conversations with them and they asked for £1,500, and have made idle threats. They were slightly hostile with myself when I challenged them to move on and when we refused to pay them money. They know the law and that because it's private land it will take 48 hours to obtain and order to remove them which will cost us £1,500.

"I would rather pay for the order. If you pay them cash directly they will come back as they'll think you're a soft touch.

"I'm not angry because there's nothing you can do about it. We will have to sit down next week and work out how to stop it happening again in the future.

"The car park is monitored by CCTV 24/7. We have not blocked the travellers in. What we have done is block the site with vehicles so that no more travellers can get on to the site. This morning we used our Range Rovers and now we are using club vehicles. to obstruct the entry and exit.

"Customers visiting David Lloyd or the club can still use the car park. We have no events on at Sandy Park until Monday."