A SECOND police force had to be called in to help quell a fight which broke out at an official Travellers’ caravan site on Christmas Day.
Around 20 officers from Tayside and Fife rushed to the scene and CS gas had to be deployed as several Travellers staged a mass brawl.
Tayside officers stationed at Kinross had to call in backup when trouble flared at Greenacres Caravan Park, near Kelty, which was at the centre of a nationwide missing person hunt at the time.
A teenager girl had been reported missing after contacting another Traveller through Facebook and it is thought tensions in the camp sparked the Christmas Day trouble.
Only two officers from nearby Kinross police station were on duty and when they arrived at the scene they found a full-blown fight involving up to a dozen residents.
Tayside Police contacted neighbouring Fife Constabulary and officers from as far afield as Dalgety Bay and Dunfermline were ordered to the scene.
One person had to be subdued using CS spray as police worked to bring the incident under control.
In the course of the incident a 65-year-old man, who was not involved in the trouble, was taken ill and an ambulance was called to take him to hospital.
A spokesman for Tayside Police confirmed that officers from both forces were called to the site at about 11.30pm on December 25, following reports of a disturbance.
“Three men and a woman aged 41, 41, 37 and 36, respectively were charged with breach of the peace. A 44-year-old man was charged with assault and breach of the peace,” he said. “A report on the matter has been submitted to the procurator fiscal.”