TRAVELLERS squatting on land at a business park have said they will quit the site by Saturday.

Ribble Valley Council chief executive Dave Morris and a respresentative of Clitheroe Police were due to request an eviction order from Blackburn magistrates today.

The travellers arrived in Barrow, off the A59 near Clitheroe, last Saturday, en route to Ireland and have so far ignored requests from the Ribble Valley Council to leave.

And a police spokesman said the travellers were "almost certainly" from a group who settled in Pendle two weeks ago. A Pendle Council employee said he was attacked by the group, on a site off Carr Road, Nelson.

A spokesman for the travellers, calling himself Geoff Parker, said today that locals had nothing to worry about and they would be on their way by the weekend.

He said: "Yes, we are travellers and we are on our way back to Ireland. We are tired of all the hassle and just want to go home. The council has over-reacted.

"We are peaceful people, but nobody likes travellers. The locals have nothing to fear from us. We will be on our way by Saturday."

Sgt Ian Kirk of Clitheroe Police said the eviction order would be served on the travellers following a hearing today at Blackburn Magistrates Court.

"We believe the travellers are from the same group that was evicted from a site in Nelson, although I cannot comment on the alleged attack on a Pendle Council officer. I am led to believe they will be leaving the Barrow site at the weekend, but if they don't we will evict on them on Monday.

"We have received numerous complaints from villagers about the presence of the travellers, no reports of specific incidents and they seem to be keeping themselves to themselves," he said.

Pendle Council's estates and property services manager Bill Hargreaves said he was attacked as he took photographs of the travellers at a site off Carr Road, Nelson.

A row broke out after one of the travellers tried to grab his camera and he was forced to leave the site immediately.

Now Pendle Council is facing a £3,000 bill for a three-day clean-up operation after the travellers abandoned the site for Barrow.

Bill Hargreaves said: "When I approached the travellers, they were aggressive and when I started taking photographs an altercation took place.

"We were granted a court order for their eviction very quickly, but by then they had started to move on.

"We have just started a three-day operation to clear up the site, including the replacement of fence posts ripped out of the ground.

"We estimate it will cost around £3,000 to restore the site and the taxpayer will be picking up the tab not the travellers."

About 60 caravans and vehicles are squatting on land at the site of the former Barrow Printworks off the A59 near Clitheroe.