Traveller Eviction Leads to Caravan Removed from Retail Park in Manchester
Related Services
Team Members Involved
The Situation
A retail park in Manchester found a touring caravan parked on its premises, positioned across marked bays immediately outside one of its anchor units. The location could not have been worse for the operator: the caravan sat directly in front of the store’s collection point entrance, blocking bays intended for customers and disrupting the flow of traffic through the busiest part of the site.
Encampments on commercial land create an immediate commercial problem. Every hour the caravan remained, the retailer lost trading capacity, customers were diverted, and staff were left managing a situation outside their remit. The operator needed the caravan gone quickly, and needed it handled in a way that would not create a confrontation on a live retail site during trading hours.
After searching for a traveller eviction specialist in Manchester, the client contacted Strikes Property Services Group.
Our Approach
Two of our enforcement agents attended site at 7:00am as instructed, ahead of the retail park’s opening hours. Arriving early was a deliberate choice: it gave our team the opportunity to resolve the matter before the site filled with customers, and it meant any movement of the caravan could take place across an empty car park rather than through live traffic.
Our agents’ first action on arrival was to speak with the management of the affected store. We confirmed that Strikes was dealing with the single caravan on site and agreed to keep them updated at every stage. Establishing that line of communication early matters on a commercial site, where the occupier needs to be able to answer questions from staff and customers while the work is ongoing.
Our agents then knocked on the caravan door. There was no answer, and store management indicated they believed nobody was inside at that point. Rather than force the pace, our team allowed a window of approximately one to two hours for voluntary movement, remaining on site and monitoring the caravan throughout. A staged escalation was prepared behind that: further enquiries in the immediate area if there was no activity, then further instructions from the client and recovery of the caravan by tow truck if no progress had been made.
At 10:30am, before any of those steps became necessary, a male traveller returned to the caravan. Our agents observed as he wound up the legs and attached the caravan to his towing vehicle. At 10:48am, the vehicle and caravan left site. Photographs were taken throughout to evidence both the encampment and the departure, giving the client a documented record of the operation.
Outcome
Our agents left site at 11:00am, four hours after arriving, with the bays outside the store fully clear and customer access to the collection point restored. The caravan was removed under its own power, meaning no recovery costs were incurred, no vehicle was impounded, and the client avoided the delay and expense of a further round of instructions. The matter was resolved in a single attendance, on the day, without escalation and without incident on a trading retail site.
The case was managed by Tom Coyle (Enforcement Agent) and Chris Bane (Managing Director), ensuring the site was cleared promptly and the client kept informed from arrival through to departure.
