Over £1,000 has been raised for an Ashby man whose Measham-based cafe was forced to close after a group of travellers moved into the same lay-by.

Paul Boyle has had to shut the Ace of Spades down because of damage allegedly caused to his fixed-unit property.

But a Measham businessman set up a Just Giving page with the aim of raising £200 for Paul while he has been unable to earn a living.

However, the donations passed the £1,000 mark on Tuesday leaving Paul overwhelmed at the generosity shown.

It is hoped that the travellers will be moved on later this week - but Paul has yet to assess the damage caused to the business he started around 15 months ago on the road out of Measham, on Bird's Hill, towards the M42.

"I'm actually pretty amazed about it, but I'm over the moon about the way local people have reacted to it and collected money, the first day raised £400 which surprised me so much," Paul told Ashby Nub News.

"The council are in court on Thursday to get the injunction and they'll be evicted on Friday.

"Then I can find out what damage has been done and what's left of the building. I was up there four days ago with the police so that I could have a look round.

"There's quite a lot of damage and mess around, you could see where people had been trying to get in with crowbars.

"They'd cut off my metal security gate, the other gate had been smashed open so they could get to the toilet. I can't get to it, at night there are dogs so I couldn't get close to it.

"I have to take the police with me every time, otherwise I can't get close to the building, not safely anyway."

Paul says that it is not only financial help he has had.

"I've had so many offers from people to help clean up, but until they actually gp, I don't know if I've got a business or not," he added.

"There's nothing I can do, I can only wait.

"It's taken a lot of hard work to build the business and I was just getting to the stage where I was looking forward to the new year.

"It had been going so well - but this has killed me and set me back six months."

Ashley Banton, of Measham Hardware and Hansons Barbers, decided to set up the crowdfunding scheme in support of Paul as a local businessman.

"The travellers stopped him trading, broke in, used his gas, and now he's not earning any money of course, he can't open, there were around 10 or 11 caravans there on Tuesday morning, they've ruined the place, it's a right mess," he explained.

"As a local business, he buys things from us and that's having a knock on effect to people like me.

"But I'm earning money still when he's not, and at the end of the day, it's his livelihood.

"We just thought we'd try and raise something although it won't cover everything. We've had response from a couple of businesses Howland Jones and Secura Labels, but there's been a massive amount of support from the general public - people who haven't even been in his cafe - it's fantastic for him. It's not just the people who've supported him directly, it's members of the public too.

"We started off with a target of £200 thinking people would put a couple of pounds in. But they've been donating £20, £30, some people have put in £50 so we're well over the target.

"Every penny goes towards helping him."

Ashley says Paul's reaction has been overwhelming.

"He didn't know we'd set the page up, and when I called he was close to tears, he didn't know why anyone would do that and I told him people want to support you," he added.

"if it happened to anyone else, we'd support them as well. It's what you do for small businesses. At the end of the day, he's a self employed businessman who's not earning any money."