Wild campers from Sunderland abandoned flooded tents after lockdown-breaking trip to Yorkshire Dales

The group of six, believed to be from the North East, broke lockdown rules to travel to Kisdon Force, where they pitched their tent above a path leading to the waterfalls on the River Swale.

Matthew Teague, the owner of Swaledale hotel Keld Lodge, told the Yorkshire Post he spotted the group hiding in the trees while he was walking his dog.

The group knocked on the door of his neighbour Jacqui Giles on Sunday morning (March 28) asking to use her landline because they had no mobile phone signal or transport back home.

The group were then said to have left the area in a hired minibus after enduring extreme weather including heavy rain – which Mr Teague believed would have flooded their poorly-sited tent.

Ms Giles told the Yorkshire Post: "Knocking on our door at 8.15am (7.15am real terms), pleading to use the phone to call Sunderland as he needed to get out of Keld and had no transport or phone signal was a bit of a shocker. His five other friends were hiding around the corner. I would never had answered the door if I had known.

"If you are going to break the law, look at the weather forecast before getting your transport out of the area on a two-hour drive."

Mr Teague later posted photos on Facebook showing the mess the wild campers had left - including chairs, beer bottles and the tent itself.

Kisdon Force was a hotspot for 'lockdown parties' last summer, when young people turned up to pitch tents and drink near the falls.

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