TAXPAYERS were hit with a bill for more than £2,000 to after travellers set up camp on a football pitch for the second consecutive year.

A Freedom of Information request from The Bolton News has revealed that the cost of cleaning up the field off Fern Street, Farnworth, amounted to £1,753.57.

And the legal costs of moving the group, which pitched up in May, came to another £287.30 — landing residents to pick up a £2040.87 tab.

Farnworth ward councillor Jean Gillies said the costs were “shocking”.

She said: “The problem is some travellers have the machinery to be able to get through, even if you put massive boulders down.There needs to be some legal changes in the law to work a bit faster to prevent.

Cllr Gillies added that she would like to see Bolton Council use measures adopted by other authorities, such as Blackpool, “They have some different policies, maybe we should looking at other councils doing things as preventative measures.”

Fellow Farnworth councillor Maureen Flitcroft, of Farnworth and Kearsley First, also suggested looking at policies other authorities use.

And the cost of cleaning up Leverhulme Park, in Breightmet, after travellers left the site in May, came to more than £870.