CUMBRIA farmers have for the most part escaped the cost of “rural outlaws” plaguing landowners in other parts of the country.

The NFU claims that 80 per cent of farmers in Britain have been affected by travellers occupying land illegally and dumping rubbish. The union says the problem is costing British farmers up to £100 million a year.

The survey of 2,000 farmers shows that the biggest problem nationwide is dumped rubbish. However, this year, 5,000 gallons of slurry escaped into a beck when young travellers apparently opened a sluice gate on a farm in Ravenstonedale.

Mike Sanderson, NFU group secretary for Appleby, said, that although there was often a rash of problems around the time of the Appleby Horse Fair, there was no “inherent problem “ in the area.