ST Helens Council is preparing to head to court in an effort to evict a group of travellers on Haresfinch Park.

Legal papers, which gave the travellers 24 hours to leave the area, were served to the illegal traveller camp on Monday afternoon.

That deadline has now passed so the council will now seek to serve fresh papers and then head to court to seek an eviction order.

A council spokesman said: “The group was served with a section 77 notice on Monday, which gave them 24 hours to leave the area.

“However, they have not vacated the park in the allotted time and the council will now look to issue a section 78 notice with the view to attend court at the earliest opportunity to seek an eviction order.”