A CARAVAN has been dumped on a layby on a busy road.

Darwen resident Tracy Jones said she did a double take when she spotted the caravan abandoned by Hollins Grove Street, Darwen.

She said a fence separating the busy road from a field had been smashed in and the caravan, which was full of rubbish and had all its windows smashed in, and a black 4x4 had been parked up on the site.

She said: “I drove past the day after and saw that the gate had been broken and the caravan dragged into the layby so I contacted our local councillor.

“The fence has been ripped apart so God knows how he’s managed to get through it, unless he has a JCB hidden somewhere.

“The car has moved now and is parked up with a horse van down the road on the field next to Davy Field Brook.”

Mrs Jones said she was worried the field would become a hotspot for flytipping as rubbish had already started to accumulate on the site.

She said: “They’ve been having problems with travellers on a car park in Lower Darwen and we’re worried it could have come from there."

Darwen East councillor Kieran Richards said: “As a local resident myself, I am deeply concerned about the site now being open.

“Due to the delicate and unusual circumstances surrounding this case, all I can say is that the site owners have been informed and it is with the right people.

“I will be monitoring this case very closely until it is resolved."

A police spokesman said the caravan had been reported and removed.

He said: “We were informed of the break-in and the caravan on May 16.

“We received another call about the caravan in the early hours of yesterday morning as there were concerns that it was blocking the road.

“I believe it has been moved.”