NORTH Dorset residents have voiced anger over the return of tourists following mass invasions of visitors to the Jurassic Coast last weekend.

The thousands of people crammed onto the beach at Durdle Door saw “extremely disappointing behaviour,’’ said Spencer Flower, the leader of Dorset Council.

Air ambulances were needed to fly two visitors to hospital after jumping from the rock arch, while roads were jammed, illegal parking widespread and residents forced to stay indoors to avoid contact.

With visitors not allowed to stay overnight, many tried to camp in north Dorset.

One farmer near Shaftesbury said: “We had a carload of people beeping at our farm gate on [May 30] evening asking if they could stay the night: absolute nerve.

“They had travelled from Northampton for the day and got cross because no camp facilities were open anywhere.”

Others avoided the coast and went for a walk or drive in the countryside around Shaftesbury.

Robin Sequeira, a former chairman of Dorset County Hospital, said: “It is not only Dorset’s beaches which have been invaded by the mindless travelling hordes. The countryside has also been blighted with groups of visitors.

“We’ve been beset in the countryside by large groups wandering around, ignoring social distancing rules and precautionary health measures. It’s definitely important to curb these invasions.”

With major tourist attractions looking to reopen, north Dorset residents are worried about more over-tourism in the area. Stonehenge and Stourhead are both expected to re-open in early July.

In a letter to the government last week, Cllr Flower called for a review on unrestricted travel guidelines, which allowed visitors to drive hundreds of miles to Dorset, and instead to tell people to “stay local”.

He added: “The current guidelines have a disproportionately negative effect on areas like ours which are popular with visitors but do not have the infrastructure to cope right now.

We’ve seen littering, people urinating and defecating in public, people camping overnight, which is not permitted under current government guidelines, and people having dangerous campfires and BBQs.

“For several weeks now we’ve been sending out a strong message that potential visitors should ‘think twice’ about coming to Dorset. We’ve managed the opening of car parks and public toilets very carefully in order to cope with demand and manage safety issues, without inadvertently giving out a signal that Dorset is ‘open for business’.”