TRAVELLERS have set up an illegal camp in a car park saying official sites are full.

Thirteen caravans moved on to the privately-owned land on the Belmont Business Park, in Durham City, earlier this week.

It is believed the 50 travellers had been moved on from Gateshead and decided to settle at the site, owned by social and economic consultants Birks Sinclair.

Durham County Council has six official sites for the travelling community, but no spaces are available at any of them at the moment.

A traveller said they had moved on to the site because there was nowhere else to go.

He said: "We are not looking for any problems, we are just looking for somewhere to stay, same as everyone else.''

A spokeswoman for Durham County Council said: "We have six sites with 113 pitches and they are all full.

"Having said that, we do provide the highest number of sites in the region and there is a national shortage of sites.

"Because we provide sites and provide a travellers' liaison service, we have spoken to many of the parties involved and we are trying to resolve the situation.

"We are trying to minimise disruption and inconvenience to the business park and are trying to find an alternative site for the travellers.

"But we must stress that we are not the main players in this, it is the owners of the land.''

A spokeswoman for Durham Police said: "We are aware of the situation and are monitoring it.''

Helios Properties, which built the business park, is liaising with the police and the local authority.

A spokesman said: "We have had this problem before but they have moved on after a couple of days.''

No one was available for comment at Birks Sinclair.

Last year, travellers settled on part of the playing fields of Belmont Comprehensive School for two weeks, saying that there were no places at official sites.

About 40 caravans parked on the land but moved off, heading for Northumberland, as the county council, which owns the land, started to seek an eviction order.

A big clean-up was needed to remove waste and building rubble left behind by the travellers.

Work was carried out at the site to prevent the groups gaining access to the land again.