TRAVELLERS who set up camp on disused land in Darwen have left - but they have pitched up on an industrial estate a couple of miles down the road.

Up to 20 caravans, cars and trucks moved on to a field off Hollins Grove earlier this month.

They were asked to leave, but failed to do so and were served a notice to leave order by police on Saturday evening.

Yesterday, the site was left strewn with rubbish including glass bottles and bin bags full of clothes as the travellers moved on.

But they have now parked up at the former Royal Ordnance factory in the Roman Road Industrial Estate.

Caravans with gas bottles outside are parked next to a block of new offices, which are believed to be empty.

Anthony Hargreaves, who lives in the Marsh House area of Darwen, said: “They just keep moving from one place to the next and they have left all their mess again which is disgusting.

“It is awful because they just keep coming back and leaving all their rubbish for others to clean up.”

The Roman Road factory, for many years known as The Fuze, which was once the town’s largest employer with more than 5,000 people working on munitions, closed in 2002.

Inspector Michael Johnson, of Blackburn police, said: “The travellers were served a notice by the police to vacate the field within 24 hours.

“A police officer attended with a representative of the owners and the travellers left peacefully within the allotted time.

“But now they have moved on to another site and we are currently in the process of identifying the owners of the site so that we can issue another notice to leave and remove the caravans from the area.”