A FAMILY of travellers have been handed landmark antisocial behaviour orders to curb their unruly lifestyle.

Fed-up residents breathed a sigh of relief as members of the troublesome Smith family were banned from a ten-square mile area of North Yorkshire.

The ASBOs also forbid the Smiths - who have subjected the region to six years of misery - from setting up long-term camps on any roadside verge in the country.

A judge imposed court orders on the four "family heads", forcing them to take responsibility for the rest of the 14-strong Smith family.

The orders are among the first in the country to target families in this way.

District Judge Roy Anderson warned David Smith Senior, 58, as well as Thomas Smith, 27, 26-year old Richard Smith, and Rebbie Smith, 19, that they could face up to five years behind bars if they breach their ASBOs.

Barrister Anesh Pema, representing North Yorkshire County Council, Ryedale District Council and North Yorkshire Police, showed Pickering Magistrates Court pictures of abandoned caravans, written-off cars, litter, damaged hedgerows, and horses standing in the road.

He said the Smiths, who are currently camped in caravans on land near Harton, off the A64, had ignored requests to moderate their behaviour - and even a High Court injunction in 2003 had failed to stop them.

At the hearing, all four members of the Smith family accepted their ASBO conditions.

After the case, Fred McManus, Ryedale's antisocial behaviour co-ordinator, said: "They may look pretty benign in court, but this family have been consistently obstructive, and have made the lives of local residents miserable. This is not an attack on travelling people. Residents are well-used to travelling people, but have complained vociferously about this particular group."

Inspector Neil Burnett, Ryedale district police commander, said: "We have worked for six years to try and moderate aspects of this family's lifestyle.

"We have had hundreds of complaints from residents who are fed up with the way they conduct themselves, the squalor and mess they live in, and their blatant disregard for people's property.

"We will ensure the Smiths are allowed to enjoy their travelling lifestyle, as long as it does not negatively impact on local communities - and these ASBOs allow us to take immediate action if it does."

When approached by the Evening Press, David Smith Senior declined to comment.

The Smiths are now understood to be applying for permanent residency on an official travellers site in York or Ryedale.

The ASBOs forbid the four heads of the Smith family from stopping for more than three weeks on any roadside verge, or at all in the area around the villages of Warthill, Sand Hutton and Gate Helmsley, near York. They are also banned from:

allowing any of the Smiths' vehicles to remain on private land without permission

allowing any of the Smiths' animals to eat hedgerows

returning to previously occupied land within one year

leaving litter in public places

taking gateposts for firewood.

Updated: 09:53 Tuesday, August 16, 2005