People are not happy after travellers set up camp in Southport .
Two vans and three caravans have parked illegally on the empty Kew Park and Ride site.
Southport resident Sheryl Gladwell said: "They just come and go wherever they like, but if I parked there I'd get a fine."
In previous years the council has faced bills of thousands of pounds to clean up the area.
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One man who lives nearby said: “The travellers are back at Kew Park and Ride.
"It's a disgrace. The mess that was left here last time [travellers set up camp]... It's time something was done about it.
"Why doesn't someone make them leave straight away? Or better yet, clamp the bloody caravans and actually punish them."
A spokesman for Sefton Council said: "We have spoken to the travellers at Kew Park and Ride, Southport and have started the required legal process to ensure they can be moved on as quickly as possible."
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The Kew Park and Ride site opened in 2007, costing some £5m to develop. It was intended to serve the thousands of visitors to the town from the east via the busy A570.
It boasted 600 parking spaces, toilets and baby changing facilities and cost just £1 per day.
However, despite regular bus services running to and from the town centre, it never achieved anywhere close to the popularity hoped for, and closed down in 2010.
It did re-open for another trial period in 2012 but this again proved unsuccessful.
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Since then, the land has sat empty, except for the occasional illegal visit from travellers staying in the car park.
Figures obtained from a Freedom Of Information request last year showed travellers set up camp more than once a month in Sefton.
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In June 2018, residents were outraged when travellers pitched up illegally at three different areas in the borough within the space of a few weeks.
Entire neighbourhoods bemoaned weeks of upset and disturbance.
