Police have refused to recover a stolen vehicle from a travellers' camp because of the danger. When Christopher Sims had his white van stolen from outside his house, officers told him they had an idea who might have taken it.
But Gloucestershire Police insisted they could not take any action as it would be ill-advised to visit the site because of the strong criminal element who lived there.
Mr Sims, 46, said: 'They said they were sympathetic but couldn't risk putting officers' lives at risk.
'They were saying they knew where the van could be but they weren't prepared to go in and find it.'
Mr Sims, who used his van for his job as a market trader, said a female officer told him the 1995 Transit, worth around £1,000, was on a well-known travellers' site, The Willows, near Gloucester.
The father-of-three, of Cheltenham, added: 'She told me it is a very dangerous and volatile place for the police to go.
'She said they would have to mount a huge operation with armed officers, dogs and helicopters and it would never be authorised by senior officers for the sake of a van worth £1,000.'
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