MARAUDING badgers who decided to make their home under a pre-school have had to be evicted.

But the shy creatures came to no harm they were just sent back to their old home nearby.

Mysterious holes around the base of the Lawn Pre-school building in Swindon's Old Town were the first clue to the burrowing brocks.

Fearing that the tunnelling would undermine the building if left un-checked, the pre-school called in the Trowbridge based Independent Badger Advisory Service, and the four-legged squatters were humanely locked out of their new home.

But the badger-proofing has left the pre-school, which operates from three joined mobile classrooms in Cleeve Lawns, facing a £3,000 bill.

Pre-school chairwoman Lorraine Codling said: "Our building is on stilts, and we noticed that there had been some sort of digging when term started at the beginning of Septem-ber. It was confirmed on October 6 that we had badgers."

Specialists had to be called in because badgers have long been a protected species.

And if the pre-school had not moved quickly, the badgers would have had to stay put until next summer, because the law forbids their being disturbed during their breeding season.

Mrs Codling added: "We had to move in earnest. Being a building on stilts, and being a playgroup, we were concerned that the tunnelling might damage the foundations.

"Whilst we're sympathetic to badgers being protected species, we naturally had to protect the playgroup and the health and safety of the children by taking action to have the tunnels closed."

The badger specialists discovered that the visitors came from a large sett in the area, whose location is kept a secret for fear of people disturbing them.

It seems that members of that sett decided to begin a new one and chose the earth under the pre-school as a building site.

The Independent Badger Advisory Service began by installing one-way badger flaps, allowing the creatures out but not back in to their tunnels beneath the classrooms.

Later, a screen of wire mesh was sunk to a depth of a metre around the building to prevent the determined diggers from trying to get back in.

Much of the work was done by volunteers from among the parents of the 70 children who use the playgroup, but the total cost still ran to some £3,000.

The pre-school has applied to Swin-don Council for a grant towards the bill.

Donations are welcome, and the pre-school can be contacted on Swin-don 613504.