Police are not required to check travellers' vehicles are 'street legal' when groups are found illegally camped in county, according to a community officer.

However sergeant James Ellis insisted travellers are treated “no more or less favourably” treated than other members of the community, after he was quizzed about the issue this week.

Speaking at a meeting of the Denham and Gerrards Cross Local Area Forum (LAF) on Wednesday, chairman Roger Reed asked if it is police policy to check travellers' vehicles have tax and MOT.

He said: “What I am asking is, are they treated in the same way as people who are not members of a minority group? Because if you clocked me driving untaxed or uninsured I am not sure you would adopt such a view.

“If you clock my car with one of your ANPR cameras I would expect, and very justifiably, a collar full.”

This week travellers set up camp in Chesham, with a number of caravans and vehicles spotted at Water Meadow Park in Brook Court.

It is the latest in a long line of illegal encampments in the county, as 210 tonnes of waste had to be cleared from the former Wycombe Sports Centre site last year after travellers spent a month there.

Sergeant Ellis assured the forum there is a rigorous process officers follow when dealing with illegal encampments, adding TVP has been “inundated” with the issue across the district.

He said: “I am very familiar with traveller encampments and unauthorised encampments and the processes that we go through.

“From my operational experience I can assure you that they are treated no less or more favourably than any other section of the community when they come to police attention.

“We have been inundated with those encampments and we have, at any one time certainly, a finite number of police officers to manage those.

“We recognise that [residents] do not want to have these encampments but we need to give some context to that.

“There is a whole process by which we assess the impact to the community, and that is part of the justification in order to enact the powers that are cited.”

Bucks councils are currently investigating identifying a traveller transit site where travellers wold be moved to if they set up an unlawful camp in the county.