'Get the f*** out of here': Gang of travellers hurl insults and wave wooden bats as they threaten bailiffs in a shocking five-hour eviction stand-off caught on film 

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Shocking footage shows travellers screaming threats and abuse at bailiffs and even swinging a wooden bat at one during a tense five-hour stand-off.

As the bailiffs approach walking alongside a van, one traveller marches towards him holding the long wooden bat and stops chest-to-chest with one of the enforcement officers.

With his face just inches away, he begins a tirade of abuse and threats before starting to walk off then turning around and swinging the bat around violently in a bid to scare them off.

The traveller, who is staying illegally on the land, thrusts his forehead on the bailiff's head before telling him to 'get the f*** out of here', his face contorted with rage. 

This is the shocking moment a group of travellers threaten a team of bailiffs during a tense, five-hour eviction stand-off

One of the travellers, armed with what appears to be a wooden bat, marches up to the enforcement officer aggressively

Video camera footage captures the traveller's face contorted with rage as he goes up against the bailiff in the field in Taunton, Somerset 

Another image from the footage shows him swinging the bat violently, while a different traveller blocks the bailiff from moving forward during the dispute

He calls the bailiff 'a monkey in a suit', telling him he's going nowhere and daring him to touch his caravan as he tries to intimidate the men.

At one point he is standing barely a few feet from a fellow traveller holding her young daughter as he provokes the officer, making violent threats as he stands just inches away from him.

The bailiffs - who had been hired to get the travellers to leave the land they had illegally occupied - remain calm during the ordeal in Taunton, Somerset, which lasted five hours.

The enforcement company, which specialises in dealing with travellers and squatters, says such behaviour is common and they have been threatened with knives and guns on numerous occasions. 

Steve Wood, 56, who founded the company 20 years ago, released the video to illustrate the conditions bailiffs find themselves in on a day-to-day basis.

He said: 'The majority of travellers aren't a problem but we were warned that these were potentially violent.

The traveller, who is staying illegally on the land, tells the bailiff to 'get the f**k out of here' while a mother holds her child barely a few feet away from him 

The bailiffs remain calm and composed while the men try to intimidate them by throwing insults and threats

'We went with a team of ten and there were 15-20 of them. It was a five-hour stand-off and we had to stand our ground. They left eventually.'

The veteran enforcement officer has, in the past, worked as an undertaker, embalmer and as a police officer.

During his job as a bailiff he has had three guns pulled on him over the years, seen countless knives and been punched on a number of occasions.

His team of four professional bailiffs travel the country reacting to landlords who find themselves in crisis over travellers or protesters illegally occupying their land.

He said: 'There are a lot of misunderstandings about travellers.

'If they rock up on to private land you don't need a court order to get them off - though local authorities tend to prefer to go down that route on council land.

The dramatic scenes were filmed in Taunton, Somerset, in the summer by Able Investigations, a Bristol-based enforcement firm which specialises in evicting travellers and squatters

'On private land, under common law, a bailiff can give travellers an hour's notice to be moved on. We do three or four a week across the country and it seems to be a growing problem.'

He added: 'Unfortunately bailiffs have this reputation of being thugs in leather jackets, and it's just not the case at all.

'I had to study for a level two NVQ in bailiff law, go through all kinds of checks and screenings and even stand before a district judge and answer a series of test questions from him on the law before I was given a licence to practice.

'What's more I have to renew the process every couple of years to keep it up to date. It's a highly professional field.'