It is a sight that many residents of Coverack have been waiting to see for more than a decade: the travellers that have been living in the North Corner car park since 2005 forced to leave at last.

For others Monday was a day of sadness, however – not least traveller Sally Bowers and her family, who have called the car park home for the past 11 years.

They drove away after bailiffs entered the site at 2pm, with Sally brandishing a 'peace' sign as she left.

A fence was then put up around her remaining property and padlocked by parish council chairman David Lambrick.

Just four days earlier she had appealed to the council for an extension of the time given to allow her to clear the site and move on.

A judge ruled back in May that although Ms Bowers must leave the car park, she would have five months in which to sort out her affairs – a deadline that ran out in October.

With the parish council, which owns the lease on the land, calling in the bailiffs to evict her as a result, Ms Bowers had begun proceedings to appeal the earlier county court decision, with no success.

She attended the parish council meeting last Thursday to ask for more time, telling members that the lorry she was using to transport some of her vehicles to the scrapyard had “snapped in half.”

Ms Bowers said it happened just after she had taken away an old ambulance, adding: “I now have no vehicle to remove things with. I was heavily relying on it.”

She said she had asked someone to try to repair the lorry, but they were unable to begin work on it for two weeks.

Councillors heard that Ms Bowers had 14 vehicles on the site and one big lorry. Once gone, she would most likely stop at Traboe Cross, or potentially the new gypsy traveller site planned just up the road from there, once in operation.

She added: “How long do I need? Four weeks was mentioned, but I don’t realistically know if my lorry is repairable.

“We have constantly tried to clear [the car park] even if it appears otherwise.”

She explained she had been sorting through many items of sentimental value that belonged to her late mother, and had also been working all summer.

Ms Bowers acknowledged that she still owed the parish council for a quarter of water, taken from the car park’s public toilets, which should have been paid on October 14, but confirmed she would be paying.

The meeting also heard from a resident of Coverack, who believed her views represented “many other people’s feelings” when she said: “Ms Bowers has been there for 11 years now; she should never have been there. She agreed to leave and has reneged.

“It’s a shame that the lorry has broken but given that it only broke a few days ago, she could not have done it [cleared the site] in the remaining few days anyway.

“It is an absolute insult to the parishioners, the people of Coverack and people sitting around this committee. My request is can you stick to the date, or how many more extensions will there be?

“I implore you to go ahead and get the bailiffs in.”

And brought in they were, although the council has given Ms Bowers a further one month to continue clearing the site of her possessions, although she will only be allowed back on under the supervision of a councillor.

Speaking the eviction, council chairman Mr Lambrick said he was pleased with the result, adding: "It's a good day for the parish, a good day for Coverack. Coverack can get their car park back again."