Travellers could be issued parking tickets when they set up illegal camps on council owned car parks.
The move follows a series of encampments at car parks in Weston-super-Mare in recent weeks.
Large groups of travellers have camped on the Melrose car park on Weston seafront twice in the past several weeks – leaving a trail of mess behind them.
There are currently groups of travellers on the Beach Lawns and at the Maderia car park.
All the sites are owned by North Somerset Council who charge the general public for their use.
The team of parking enforcement officers are out on patrol seven days a week issuing tickets to those who fail to pay and display or overstay their allotted time.
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But when travellers use the sites they are not ticketed.
Council bosses say travellers are not ticketed due to fears about the safety of their parking officers.
Weston councillor Mark Canniford said: “Currently we do not actively ticket travellers who use our car parks.
“This is down to concerns about the safety of our parking enforcement officers in issuing the tickets.”
Mr Canniford said the authority had tried to ticket members of the travelling community using remote cameras
But he added that collecting any fines proved problematic due to not easily being able to trace the owners of the vehicles to a permanent address.
He added: “We are looking at ways that we can issue tickets and collect penalties successfully to travelling groups who use our car parks inappropriately.”
The council is also looking at the possibility of billing travellers for the costs of the clean up when they leave a site – a cost currently borne by council tax payers.
This week teams from the authority's contractors Glendale were faced with clearing large amounts of rubbish - and human excrement - from the Melrose car park.
It is also investigating what permanent measures can be put in place, such as height restriction barriers, at car parks to prevent vehicles from accessing the sites.
Councillors are also calling on Weston MP to press for a change in the law to make it easier for local authorities to move travellers on
“Currently we have to apply to the court to move on the illegal encampments,” said Mr Canniford.
“But we can apply to the court and it can take days for a hearing to take place to give us the powers to evict.
“There needs to be a change in the law to make it easier for local councils to move groups on.
“This was something that we were promised would be looked at before the last elections.
“But it has since been put on the back burner. It needs to be put firmly on the front burner once again and dealt with.
“Currently it is a civil matter. But illegally occupying the site needs to be made into a criminal matter.
“We need to find a way of moving them on more easily on a permanent basis.”
The council is now looking at how it can provide a transient site for travellers who arrive in the district.
The groups could use the site as a stop off point for one or two nights before moving on, rather than parking up illegally in the town.
The council is now taking steps to remove the travellers from the Beach Lawns and Maderia car park ahead of the busy Bank Holiday weekend.
