TRAVELLERS have set up camp near a Swindon gym after moving a few hundred yards from their previous base.

Three caravan families are staying near the Fitness First building at the back of Dorcan House in Eldene.

The group, who hail from Middlesex, hope to leave within the next 24 hours, after they have fixed one of their pick-up trucks.

"We should be gone quite quickly," said a 28-year-old mum-of-three, who did not want to be named, yesterday.

"We need to be on hard ground so the wheel on the truck can be fixed. We're not here to cause problems."

The travellers were upset to be accused of defecating in shrubbery by local residents earlier in the week when they stayed on The Drive in Nythe.

"That's not true," said a 60-year-old traveller.

"We use shop toilets if we have to go like that and we also have our own portable toilet.

"I don't know why they would say that. At the end of the day we're all human.

"We eat, sleep, suffer and bleed like anyone else. I'm sorry to residents if they don't want us here but we're humans, too."

She added: "I'm glad we're away from that school.

"We didn't allow our kids on the estates and let them throw stones at people's windows.

"But that happened to us from thoughtless youngsters. It's a much nicer place further down the road."

They are unsure where they will go to next, with one traveller saying: "We will go where the road takes us."

A 47-year-old woman from Eldene, who did not want to be identified, said: "They seem to move on from one site to another without a care in the world.

"I know this is the summer and they like to travel during these months but I'm hoping they will leave Swindon.

"Their dogs bark a lot, which is annoying."

Earlier in the week, Swindon Council workers collected 23 bags of rubbish from Nythe, near Dorcan Technology College, which the travellers had pre-bagged for collection.

Coun Andy Albinson (Con, Dorcan) said: "I'm not happy and quite disappointed they have come back again. Perhaps it's something we have to accept but we need to make it difficult for them to access open spaces.

"It's something we have to keep an eye on and I will be discussing the matter further with council leader Rod Bluh."