Fifty travellers at a gypsy site in Ridge face council eviction amid mounting frustration in the village.

Villagers living beside the camp in Summerswood Lane are calling on Hertsmere Borough Council to evict the travellers immediately after a legal victory to protect the Green Belt site.

The deadline of May 18 for the caravan site to be cleared has passed. "Why haven't they gone ahead and evicted them?," said Ridge resident Stuart Vine.

A failure to evict travellers who "openly flout the law" would be a "recipe for civil disobedience", he said, adding "residents feel let down and completely exasperated."

One Ridge resident of ten years did not rule out the sort of Council Tax revolt undertaken by villagers in Cambridgeshire over failed attempts to remove a large gypsy camp there.

"A lot of people are thinking why should we pay Council Tax if the gypsies are not. The village has been very patient but enough is enough.

"It's one rule for them and one for us," she said, referring to taxes and stringent planning rules for law-abiding residents wanting garages and extensions.

The travellers bulldozed their way on to land they bought in the quiet village lane back in September 2001.

After a lengthy legal struggle including two appeal victories and an injunction banning travellers from the protected site the council is now poised to remove the dozen families living there, including children who attend nearby schools.

The council could turn up with bailiffs and police but instead hope the travellers will co-operate and leave peacefully.

"We will inform them about the enforcement action and hope that they comply without further action becoming necessary," said Hertsmere's head of planning Richard Grove.

Ridge borough councillor Rodney Saunders said: "The law says we have to pay taxes and abide by rules but the gypsies have not abided by the law. It's the Green Belt, they should not be there and we must uphold the law," he said.

The parish council and residents fear inaction would set a dangerous precedent and undermine planning laws.

Hertsmere officials will aim to secure the site after eviction to stop other travellers moving in.

Just two weeks ago the council won an injunction at the High Court making it a criminal offence for land in nearby Blanche Lane, South Mimms, to be used as a caravan park.

It was thought that travellers evicted from Ridge could try moving to the site something they firmly refute.

Traveller Pat Egan, who part-owns the Summerswood Lane site, said: "We want to stay, how can you just take sick people and dump them on the road?

"We do not want to bother anybody, we just want to get on with life," he said, adding: "We don't know anything about planning laws."

He said the 12 families had been bullied off other sites by travellers, and hoped for a land exchange if they were forced to leave.

Borehamwood councillor Joe Goldberg thinks the travellers should be allowed to remain on the site on humanitarian grounds.

"I am concerned about health and education," he said, "a number of the adults are suffering from serious medical conditions and the 21 children need schooling."

f=GillSans condensedmkent@london.newsquest.co.uk