The notorious Doran family gained international attention and were labeled the ‘holidaymakers from hell’ after a disorderly spree led to their deportation from New Zealand in shame.

Videos surfaced showing the family stealing from a garage and threatening a woman who confronted them for littering on a beach.

Upon returning to Britain, family head Patrick Doran caused a stir in Worcestershire, with locals accusing him of demanding hefty sums to vacate or threatening ongoing harassment and declining property values.

Now, the clan are once again being forced to pack up – after losing a bitter planning war in the heart of rural Lincolnshire.

Adopting the name ‘Alan Gray’, Mr. Doran acquired Stickney Showground, near Boston, and illegally transformed a three-acre grazing patch into a fortified, gravelled enclave.

But the arrival of Mr Doran and his wife Barbara in the quiet village was anything but peaceful.

Nearby to the site, which sits behind black metal gates, are farmhouses, bungalows, a chicken farm and large detached homes.

Locals have accused the traveller clan of a string of threatening and anti-social acts.

They alleged how his Belgian malinois guard dogs roamed wild, smoke from giant bonfires choked the air, and suggested gun threats were made at a lollipop lady after she photographed his car parked on double yellow lines.

‘Alan Gray put his fingers to the side of his head, mimicking a gun,’ one source said.

Mr Doran, a father-of-four who describes himself as an Irish traveller, has always denied those claims. 

In 2023, when the Daily Mail reported on anti-social behaviour caused by the family at the site, Lincolnshire Police confirmed they had received complaints, and a council source said: ‘All the hardstanding he’s put down means water runs off his land and causes flooding. There is also a septic tank which leaks into a ditch outside.’

In February this year, East Lindsay District Council refused permission for Mr Doran to open a gypsy and traveller site with room for up to 30 static and touring caravans, a toilet and wash block and a dayroom building.

An enforcement notice then followed, ordering the demolition of brick structures already put up without permission and demanding the land be restored to open fields.

Mr Doran – who runs a local paving firm – appealed, insisting he had a right to settle there with his family and bemoaning a shortage of traveller sites in the county.

However, this month the planning inspectorate backed the council, ruling the camp poses a danger to life due to the site’s flood-risk location.

The Dorans, along with the Collins family who had joined them on the site, now have 12 months to leave and 15 months to return the site to its original state.

Speaking to the Daily Mail at the site this week, one of the residents, who described herself as a family member, complained that they are ‘the most hated people on earth’, adding that ‘they [the council] think they can sweep us under the carpet’.

She said: ‘I am just a family member so it’s nothing to do with me. 

‘The council have said it’s at risk of flooding, that’s why they refused it [Alan Gray’s appeal against the enforcement notice] and they want us off.

‘For the love of God. The caravans are not going to float away. 

‘I know about these things. All you do is build the ground higher. They helped the woman next door do her house. The council spent money on that.

‘There’s a house there, there and there. Why are we at risk of flooding and they’re not?

‘We’re the most hated people on earth. They think they can sweep us under the carpet. They [the council] are not going to do anything to help us. They want us off here.

‘What are they going to do with the seven year olds, the nine year olds? What are they going to do with all the children?

‘I’ve already told my son there’s no point making friends at school.’

Another man associated with the site, who didn’t give his name, said: ‘We want to live a peaceful life’, then threatened our reporter with ‘trouble’ if they reported on the site or returned.

Planning inspector Thomas Shields acknowledged the shortage of traveller sites nationally and the needs of Doran’s young children, but concluded the risks outweighed the benefits. 

He said the ‘close proximity’ of a flood-risk waterway represented ‘an unacceptable residual risk to life’ for those living on the site.

The Doran family moved to Stickney, a small village of fewer than 2,000 people, around five years ago. 

Mr Doran told the planning appeal that his children had settled in local schools, that his businesses employ local people, and that his family had integrated into the community.

Jessi Bruce, of charity, Friends, Families and Travellers, said in a support letter: ‘Mr Gray bought the land in the hopes of giving his children a safe and stable home with their own space. 

‘This is the most established site the family have ever been on. This site [has] given them opportunity to access stable education, facilities and services by being settled for last five years.’ 

Ms Bruce added that it had been Mr Doran’s ‘dream to create a transit site to support families with nowhere to go,’ and warned that if planning permission was not granted, the family risked being pushed onto the roadside. 

She said: ‘If they lived on the roadside, they would be highly unlikely to be able to access their mail due to the chaotic nature of living roadside. 

‘This would inevitably result in, missing NHS appointments, and potentially having their income and/or benefits stopped.’

Speaking to the Daily Mail near the site this week, locals told of how they had hoped the application was rejected.

One said: ‘If they’ve broken the law in some way then they’ve broken the law. If somebody builds a house without planning permission they have to pull it down.

‘The law is the law.

‘If you look at how they reinstate that site, they broke the law. They did a lot on that site that was against the law.

‘They created the problem themselves. To start with, they moved thousands of tonnes of chalk on. Secondly, they build a toilet block and they’ve used the land not for what it was meant to be used for.

‘I could build houses without planning permission. The council might not notice for a while. But then they’d say they have to be pulled down.

‘If you’re going to live on luck you have to accept the consequences. They went onto that field and had a bet and the bet lost.

‘The objection [against the caravan site] is not against them. We have not chucked them off. The council has.

‘They should have sought advice from the council before they did what they did. They just moved on with static caravans. We saw them going passed and we let them get on with it.

‘If you break the rules, you have to take the consequences.’

Another nearby resident said: ‘There is a problem with the noise. It’s mostly the dogs. They run up and down the road loose.

‘I think it’s right [that the appeal was refused]. They set it [the site] up as one thing and changed the use without applying for anything.

‘It looked for a while that they were going to turn it into a showground. It looked like it was going to be for horses. They tidied it up and put gates on it. We thought it would be good for the area. Bring visitors.

‘And then they moved caravans on it.

‘I would like to think this is the end of it.’

‘People think “Why should they be able to get a bit of land and do what they want with it?”, another resident who lives nearby the site said.

‘They should not be allowed to.’

The Dorans were branded ‘trash’ and ‘worse than pigs’ by the mayor of Auckland when they were ejected from New Zealand in January 2019.

Their trip abroad had descended into chaos as locals and tourists complained of drunken behaviour, unpaid restaurant bills and brazen thefts.

The family, who were accused of putting ants in their food to avoid having to pay, described the allegations as ‘lies’, claiming to have been ‘tortured’ and ‘condemned’. 

Shamed and deported, the clan returned to Britain – only to become embroiled in another controversy later that year. 

After arriving home, Mr Doran acquired land on the edge of the Worcestershire village of Ombersley. 

Ignoring a ruling by Wychavon District Council that he could not build on the land, he erected a bungalow and submitted a retrospective planning application.

A legal battle ended with inspectors limiting the site to two caravans. 

However, five caravans appeared, along with human waste allegedly strewn along nearby paths and on top of a precarious 10ft wall.

The local pub, meanwhile, had to ban female travellers from marching into their toilet in dressing gowns to wash.

At the height of the stand-off, Mr Doran allegedly told neighbours they would have to stump up £600,000 between them if they wanted him gone. 

He reportedly posted letters through the doors of the 22 neighbouring households warning them he would sell the land to another traveller family if they refused.

East Lindsay District Council was approached for comment.