Order granted to move caravans off football pitch

A court order has been served to a group who have set up their caravans on the edge of a junior football pitch.

They arrived at Redcar Athletic's playing fields in Teesside at lunchtime on Sunday and the club made the decision to cancel games and planned holiday courses this week.

DT Sports Coaching posted an apology saying it had also made the "extremely difficult decision" to cancel its holiday course as there was no sign of the camp leaving.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council said the group had until 12:00 BST on Thursday "to vacate or further enforcement action will be taken".

DT Sports Coaching said it had spoken to other venues locally but nowhere else had the capacity or was suitable to host its course at such short notice.

"I hope you understand the difficult situation we have been put in and respect our decision, my apologies once again," a spokesperson said.

Redcar Athletic club president Kevin Fryatt previously said: "The last thing we want is vehicles moving in or near our pitches, everything has been cancelled and that is the situation at the moment.

"We know there is some damage, I have had reports that they have driven around the pitches and around the streets near the ground."

Cleveland Police confirmed a notice had been served and the "eviction process is ongoing".

Follow BBC Tees on X,Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram and listen to Radio Tees on BBC Sounds.