Taxpayers foot £12,000 bill after break-in at Wolverhampton traveller transit site
Taxpayers have been left with a bill of more than £12,000 following a break-in at a traveller transit site in Wolverhampton.
The site on Gorsebrook Road was broken into last month and occupied for more than a week by a group of travellers, featuring up to 20 caravans plus other vehicles.
The group should have paid around £2,000 for their stay but did not pay a penny.
A Freedom of Information request by the Express & Star reveals that Wolverhampton Council spent nearly £11,000 on bailiffs, who were brought in to move the travellers on. A further £1,473 was spent on new concrete blocks to secure the site, which is classed as a Negotiated Stopping Point (NSP).
The Labour-run council says additional clean up costs – incurred after rubbish was left strewn across the site – have not yet been calculated.
The figures also reveal the council has spent £37,500 on security at the site since it opened in September 2021 – during which time there have been no paying customers.
