Dorchester'S market was being held as normal today after police had 'good natured' talks with a convoy of travellers that had threatened to disrupt it.

Witnesses said police cars arrived at around 8pm yesterday to evict the travellers, who had started arriving on Monday night.

The move came after another convoy of 12 caravans - all with Irish number plates - were spotted heading towards the Fairfield market car park at around 4pm.

The convoy looked set to join the 30 vehicles - caravans, vans and cars - containing about 50 adults and children that had already set up camp on the middle of the three car parks, opposite Dorchester's police station.

Shirley Watkin and Mike Day, who run Pet Bitz at the market, said: "It's a relief - the market would have been impossible if they'd still been here. There would have been nowhere to park, for a start."

Linda Maclean, who owns Dorchester Market Caf, said : "We had loads of trouble yesterday, especially with the kids. It wasn't so bad when we were quiet because you could keep an eye on them, but today it would have been impossible because of the queues."

Inspector Les Fry of Dorchester police said: "We spent some time building up a relationship with the group.

"It was all very good natured and no formal powers were used, rather we used powers of persuasion.

"The group agreed that they would prefer to move on and have now left the county."

Eugene Barnes, parking services manager for West Dorset District Council, said: "We worked closely with the police and are grateful for their assistance in this matter."