The landlord of a historic pub has said anti-social behaviour from campers has forced him to cancel holiday bookings due to noise and littering.
Alistair Moody who runs the Tibbie Shiels Inn next to St Mary's Loch in the Scottish Borders said that the beauty spot has been plagued with careless campers - who have been leaving behind rubbish and defecating in public.
Mr Moody, who also runs a registered campsite next to his inn, said he is set to lose thousands of pounds due to the disruption on the green opposite his business.
Campers are being asked to pay £10 each to camp by the loch, with no toilet facilities available until recently.
Mr Moody has also claimed campers are causing noise until the early hours of the morning with some becoming drunk and irate.
Speaking to SWNS, he said: "After postponing the reopening of our holiday let and campsite here at Tibbie Shiels Inn for two weeks due to the situation on the Green adjacent, we feel we have no choice but to cancel our reopening, including cancelling our holiday let bookings this week, worth £570, and all camping bookings worth approx £600 per day at weekends and approximately £400 per day during the week.
"Obviously the weather has a huge influence on folks' motivation to go camping, but given the current circumstances we could fill our holiday let and campsite three times over.
"Folk continue to defecate in numbers on the river bank five yards away from and in full view of our static caravan, rendering it unrentable.
"If we were to open our campsite and toilets, there is no doubt we will be inundated by folk camping elsewhere using them, a situation I have no wish to even attempt to manage.
"With no management in place, antisocial behaviour is now a daily experience. It just varies by degree, and all the other problems we have all been experiencing here, with the police being called and attending many times."
Mr Moody also said that he came across a drunk man lying in the middle of the A608, who he claimed became unruly after being helped to the side of the road.
He said: "Our only guests in our apartment, which faces away from the Green, were booked in for three days. However, they left this morning because of the noise that continued until around 5am.
"We have been constantly victims of antisocial behaviour on the green and last night was no exception."
Although the public toilets have now reopened, Mr Moody said he thinks this will exacerbate the situation.
He added: "I feel that reopening the public toilets is totally inappropriate given the situation, and will only serve to relieve the pressure on the landowner to manage the campers and other visitors that they are allowing to park at their leisure, on their property."
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