Defiant travellers vowed to launch an immediate judicial review after Basildon councillors voted to evict them from the Crays Hill site.

If successful, the move could halt the eviction and even force the council to reconsider the action it takes.

Solicitor Keith Lomax, who has represented several travellers, is on standby to lodge the application.

Dale Farm travellers are also travelling to Westminster tomorrow for private talks with an unnamed woman MP sympathetic to their cause.

They will then go to Number 10, where Dale Farm resident Kathleen McCarthey aims to hand Prime Minister Tony Blair a letter pleading with him to intervene and resolve the crisis for travellers.

The letter says: "We call upon you to intervene and ask Basildon Council to give things more time.

"Maybe that intervention can avert another tragedy, namely a forced eviction and 80 plus families being made homeless."

Mrs McCarthy also hit out at people who claimed they had come to the site from Ireland and were not British.

She said: "I just want the people of the community to know we never opened any floodgates to come into the country.

"We were brought here by birth. I am English and was born in Birmingham. My children and all my friends and relatives at Dale Farm are also British and we all have UK passports. If we were not we would not be able to have them."

If a judicial review is lodged it could take two to four weeks before a hearing, where the council will argue against it, Basildon Council leader Malcolm Buckley said.

Because Deputy prime Minister John Prescott has already rejected the appeals it is likely to be unsuccessful, Mr Buckley said.

However, he admitted it could take months to reach a full hearing and the eviction would be put on hold.