AN Ashby man who was forced out of his roadside cafe by travellers is ready to open his doors to customers again.

But Paul Boyle says he returned to find £1,200 worth of damage had been caused - and he was then hit by a weekend theft from the site when the caravans had left.

He described the vandalism at the Ace of Spades as 'mindless'.

Paul has owns the cafe which is situated on the Bird's Hill lay by just outside of Measham, heading towards the A42 junction.

But he had to leave last month when travellers pitched up outside and left him fearing for his business.

A Measham businessman, Ashley Banton set up a Just Giving appeal to help Paul out, with the aim of raising £200.

But donations totalled more than £1,400 and that will now pay for the damage caused to the cafe while the travellers were on the lay-by.

They also left a large amount of litter during their time there.

But Paul plans to open up on Monday and says he is just happy to still be in the business he set up 16 months ago.

"It was absolute mindless vandalism," Paul told Ashby Nub News.

"To top it all, somebody went in over the weekend and stole my gas regulator, they cut the pipe and stole it.

"This was a separate incident, the travellers left on Thursday night and this happened on Saturday or Sunday night.

"At the moment, I'm in the process of cleaning up and trying to repair some of the damage.

"I'll be open next Monday though, they didn't break in, I've still got a business, it was exterior stuff that was broken and vandalised, nothing was stolen.

"There was stuff there they could have taken and sold which would've made more sense.

"But it was breaking things for the sake of breaking it. One of the gates was smashed, another was cut, a gas cage was smashed,

"There were four solar panels on the roof which could have been used on their caravans, but no, they'd rather smash them and throw them in the field.

"A grinder was used on the toilet door and a waste tank. My flags were smashed up."