A chorus of deafening car horns with screeching tyres and screaming voices - It could be the noise of rush hour traffic in New York.

But that was the sound of Christmas 2004 at the Crays Hill traveller site.

Resident Len Gridley, whose property backs onto the Dale Farm site, recorded the scenes on CCTV equipment at his Oak Road home to give a snapshot of "what it is like" living next to what is believed to be that largest camp in the country.

The tapes have been passed to ITV's Tonight with Trevor McDonald which is planning a programme on travellers' sites on February 7.

Mr Gridley said: "The horns are always a problem, but I thought on Christmas Day they might give it a rest, but no such luck, so I started recording at about 3.40pm. It just got worse and worse and in the end I had to leave the house - it ruined my Christmas."

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