SEASON ticket holders for Rainham rail station car park will be compensated after travellers invaded their spaces last week.

The travellers were finally removed on Friday, with police in attendance, after Connex secured an eviction order from magistrates.

Commuters had been forced to use a nearby council car park all last week after the travellers took over their spaces on Sunday morning.

There were about 30 caravans and numerous towing cars and trucks.

Connex spokesman Dave Ewart said: "We accept that season ticket holders for the car park were inconvenienced and Connex will be paying compensation in cash equal to the cost of their ticket for one week. It was a situation beyond our control and we want to thank the customers for their patience."

Staff at Connex spent the weekend clearing up the mess and litter left by the unwelcome visitors to make the car park suitable for commuters this morning.

But Mr Ewart said no plans had been made to stop another invasion by travellers.

He said: "It's very difficult to stop a car park being invaded. Whatever barriers you put up they will probably get in. But it's not something that happens very often."

The travellers, who arrived in Rainham from a site in Chatham, had said they would be moving on to Wakefield.

Their invasion of Rainham station came in the same week as plans were announced for a blanket ban to keep travellers off all council land.

Although the ban would not have affected privately owned land like Rainham station, the scheme would also see special sites set up for travellers to minimise disturbance to the public.