FIRE crews and council officers were called to clear up a mess left behind when a group of travellers moved on from Middlewich.

Last Tuesday Cheshire County Council served a group of travellers that had set up base on land between Pochin Way and ERF Way, with a letter stating that if they did not move on they would be evicted the following day.

After receiving the letter the group moved their encampment but in the early hours of Wednesday Middlewich Fire Station was called to Midpoint 18 following reports that a lorry load of debris had been dumped on the highway.

Sub officer Paul Winder said: "At around 12.45am on September 21 we attended a fire at the junction of ERF Way and Pochin Way because a lorry load of fence panels and general rubbish had been set on fire.

"We had to put it out using two pumps and although it only took around 15 minutes there was quite a bit of damage to the road."

A spokeswoman for Cheshire County Council confirmed that the road had been damaged and that patch repairs would have to be carried out.

She said: "Tree cuttings, parts of fence panels, old sheds and bits of concrete had been dumped on to the road and set on fire. We were alerted to this because it was causing an obstruction."

A maintenance team was sent to clear the rubbish away but the spokeswoman said it was too early to calculate the cost of repairing the road.