Travellers armed with wooden bats hurl insults at bailiffs in dramatic five-hour standoff

Footage has emerged of a group of travellers confronting bailiffs with wooden clubs in a five-hour confrontation in Somerset.

One of the travellers is show telling the bailiffs to “‘get the f*** out of here” during the tense stand-off.

In a barrage of abuse, he also calls one officer “a monkey in a suit”, his face screwed up in rage.

He also screams at the officer, daring him to “touch” his caravan.

Other travellers are also seen joining the argument and trying to keep the bailiffs from carrying out their work.

The footage, released by an enforcement company which specialises in dealing with travellers, says the incident was not uncommon and their officers are regularly threatened with knives and even guns.

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The latest incident happened in Taunton.

The bailiffs were called after the group of travellers, including young children, illegally camped out on the land.

There were around 10 bailiffs and some 15 travellers, it was claimed.

The bailiffs are wearing padded jackets for protection, with the word “enforcement” written across their clothing.

The footage also shows one of the travellers pressing his head against one of the bailiffs and unleashing a volley of abuse.

Another part of the footage shows a woman with a young daughter as the abuse continues.

“The majority of travellers aren’t a problem but we were warned that these were potentially violent,” said Steve Wood who set up the company.

“We went with a team of ten and there were 15-20 of them. It was a five-hour stand-off and we had to stand our ground. They left eventually.”

He added: “There are a lot of misunderstandings about travellers.

“If they rock up on to private land you don’t need a court order to get them off – though local authorities tend to prefer to go down that route on council land.

“On private land, under common law, a bailiff can give travellers an hour’s notice to be moved on. We do three or four a week across the country and it seems to be a growing problem.”