Travellers: Day Pickles took on travellers face to face: Minister's showdown after giving chase in his car

No one can accuse Communities Secretary Eric Pickles of not taking his job seriously.

While most ministers seem content with shaping national policy, Mr Pickles took direct action when he saw a group of travellers heading towards his constituency.

He gave chase in his car and bravely confronted them after they pulled on to a cricket pitch.

Mr Pickles – who has brought in a raft of measures aimed at preventing itinerants from setting up camp on greenfield land without permission – first noticed their convoy turning off a motorway as he drove towards his home.

He then followed them and watched as the 40 travellers with their 15 caravans moved on to the cricket pitch at around 10pm last Thursday.

The minister pulled over and asked them what they thought they were doing.

Unhappy with their answers, he then called in the police and local council to deal with them. 

One Tory source said the minister’s actions had led to Commons wags comparing him to a private investigator.

He said: ‘We’re calling him P. I. Pickles. People in Whitehall know you don’t mess with Eric. This is a great example of local people taking action.’ 

After police got involved, the travellers were issued with a Section 61 eviction notice and told to leave the field in Mountnessing, Essex.

If they had failed to do so, they could have been hit with unlimited fines under new rules introduced by Mr Pickles.

However in an apparent act of vengeance, some of the travellers returned the next day and wrecked the cricket square, forcing Mountnessing Cricket Club to cancel a match set for the weekend.

Witnesses said the travellers drove up and down the wicket, making hand-brake turns to wreck the grass. 

The club’s groundsman said: ‘It was obvious they were doing all they could to plough up the pitch and do as much damage as they could.

‘It was just very lucky we haven’t had rain for a while and the surface was hard. If we had had any rain that would have been it – it would have turned into a ploughed field.

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‘Someone had tried to dig some initials around the crease of one strip, but he had given up because the ground was too hard.’

Last night Mr Pickles told the Mail: ‘I’m pleased that they have gone but such appalling behaviour clearly demonstrates we are dealing with a small minority of people who have no respect for the law.

‘This Government is clamping down on unauthorised traveller sites and the public want to see  fair play and planning rules properly enforced.

‘After seeing the trouble this has caused I’ve never felt it more important to protect our green belt land and the communities who live in and around it.’

Strict: Eric Pickles has brought in measures to stop travellers from setting up camp on greenfield land without permission

Karl Afteni, chairman of Mountnessing parish council, said £600 of damage had been done. 

He added that the club will close for a month and a further £1,500 will be spent on better security. 

‘Nothing will stop a determined effort with machinery and power cutters but we must make it harder to gain unlawful access,’ he said.

Under the Coalition, planning guidance on traveller sites has been tightened so that camps located in the green belt, whether they are temporary or permanent, are regarded as ‘inappropriate development’.

Council chiefs have also been told that they ‘should strictly limit new traveller site development in open countryside’.