Travellers moved on to a Gillingham’s DIY store’s car park on last night and police had to be called to the site by staff.

The group drove their vehicles onto the B&Q store’s car park in Will Adams Way, shortly before 9am and staff had to close off the car park as a result.

It is not clear where the group had travelled from but it is understood the police had to be called because there was some sort of incident in the car park.

One Gillingham woman who didn’t want to be name said: “The travellers moved on to the car park at B&Q in Gillingham last night.

“Staff closed off car park to customers and I heard the travellers were causing some problems in the shop and police had to be called.”

It is understood the group only stayed at the site for a matter of hours.

Their arrival, came just a day after a group of travellers abused and intimidated leisure centre staff and councillors as they tried to get onto land in Rainham.

At one point, the group are claimed to have stopped customers of Splashes from leaving the site, as workers at the site attempted to block their entry.

A separate group, who left the Riverside Country Park earlier this week, promptly arrived at the Tesco Extra car park in Gillingham on Thursday.

The group moved into the supermarket car park during the afternoon while another group of travellers set up home on another green space managed by Medway Council, Cozenton Park in Rainham.

It is understood staff at the Tesco store were forced to close the car park at one point as reports customers’ cars were being damaged by young individuals running around with trollies.

The store, which is usually open 24 hours also had to be closed for a time during the night for safety reasons.

A spokesman for Tesco, said: “Unfortunately, due to an incident of anti-social behaviour, we had to temporarily close our Gillingham Extra store last night.

“We are assisting the police with their enquiries. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused to our customers.”

A fence post had been broken down at the Splashes Leisure Centre car park, enabling vehicles and their caravans to enter Cozenton Park, in Bloors Lane.

The police were called out and one patrol car was parked across the gap to prevent an further vehicles from entering the area.

Ward Cllr Martin Potter, (Con), went to the scene when he heard about the invasion.

Cllr Potter also said some of the men from the group approached him and Cllr David Carr and asked what was going on and both councillors were then subjected to a barrage of abuse by the group who also threatened to “mess up the place” if eviction action was stated.

The Splashes car park gate was also closed for 30 minutes to prevent any more travellers arriving on the site.

It was at this point some of the group then blockaded the gate and prevented customer’s cars from leaving.

When police arrives shortly afterwards they advised the group the gate would be locked overnight.

Cllr Potter said: “This group of travellers have proven to be particularly threatening and abusive, and I must commend the brilliant staff at Splashes for the valiant professionalism I witnessed in light of such adversity.

“Furthermore, efforts are underway to evict this group and all these recent events serve as a reminder of why we need a change of law to deter these illegal encampments.”

Lots of rubbish was left at Riverside Country Park in Lower Rainham Road, after the travellers left the site.

Some of the travellers were still at the Tesco site early on Friday morning, but later moved and set camp at the Greenfields boot fair site in Wainscott.

A Medway Council spokesman said: “We were informed that a group of travellers had set up an illegal encampment in Cozenton Park on Thursday evening. It is thought some of the group accessed the park through Splashes car park. The police were contacted after vehicles were used to block the entrance to Splashes car park, preventing some of our customers from leaving the centre.

“We will continue to work closely with the police to monitor the situation and will be following a civil legal process to move them on if they remain on site.

“Splashes leisure centre is open as normal and, as a precaution, we have arranged for security officers to visit the area over the weekend to help prevent any incidents of anti-social behaviour.”

By this morning, the group who had got onto the B&Q car park had left by about 1am.

A spokesman for police said: “Kent Police was made aware of a traveller incursion in a car park in Will Adams Way, Gillingham on Friday 5 May 2017 at just before 9pm.

“Officers initially attended and spoke with all parties present.

“Patrols also attended at about 1am on this morning and found the caravans had left the site.”