A GROUP of travellers were still occupying a hotel car park yesterday afternoon as a guest described their presence as ‘intimidating’.

Around a dozen caravans and Ford Transit vans took over the car park outside the Travelodge, in Barracks Road, Burnley, last Wednesday.

Police were called the site twice in two days following complaints from staff. Last night, police said some of the group had moved to Brierfield.

Neil Walsh, 38, travelled from Chorley with his brother Tony to stay at the hotel on Friday night ahead of their football team’s night out in Burnley.

Mr Walsh, a quantity surveyor, said: “As we came off the roundabout I said to my mate: ‘I don’t remember there being a caravan park here’.

“There were hardly any spaces to park in.

“The staff didn’t address it at all but I don’t think they could do much.

“The hotel wasn’t very busy. It was intimidating and off-putting having to make our way through them all to get in and out.

“If I’d known they were there I would have booked somewhere else but we’d already paid for it.

“To be honest, we weren’t really in the hotel for long as we went straight out into town and left early the next morning but it doesn’t look good.”

Travelodge bosses said on Friday that the convoy was ‘affecting day-to-day business’ but that the hotel was continuing to operate as normal.

A spokeswoman for the chain said it was ‘working round-the-clock to resolve the issue’ and that it was liaising with local authorities to obtain an eviction notice. The hotel chain leases the land from an unknown private owner.

The convoy arrived from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire and told police they intended to leave the site on Sunday. However last night the travellers were still in situ.