Police called as travellers set up on Telford factory site

Four caravans were parked at VA Technology in Halesfield at about 6pm on Wednesday.

Christine Samuel, spokeswoman for the company, said the site had been broken into and that police had been called to the scene.

She said bosses had asked all employees still working on the site to leave after the travellers set up their camp on the firm's main car park.

Miss Samuel said that gates had been broken to force entry and that some of the travellers had been involved in an exchange with a key holder. But she added that staff would be turning up for work as normal on Thursday.

She said: "We got a call from one of our cleaners who was worried.

"We have had problems with encampments before, but it is usually next to the road outside this is the first time they have breached the grounds.

"We have two gates at either end, and the travellers have broken one to gain access and are on our car park area.

"When our key holder arrived at the site it was quite clear that some cabling had been taken, and when challenged the travellers started shouting at their children. They were quite abusive to our key holder.

"The police weer called to the scene and our managing director Jim Byrne was on his way to the site on Wednesday night.

"We don't work shifts but there were some people on the site working overtime or staying on late, and we had cleaners there at the time. We told everyone on site to leave."

The company, which designs and manufactures investment casting equipment, has 84 employees based at its Halesfield site.