I live on a traveller site AMA

[namechange2026198]

Well exactly that really got a spare bit of time and I know with some of the recent ridiculous tv shows I thought I’d see if I could answer a few myths and questions. I will say my partner is a traveller I am not but am married into the community which in itself is rare

What does the community think about the boys who does on the motorway? Whilst obviously it's a tragedy that those families lost their sons, is there any acknowledgement that the communities who had put up with their anti social behaviour might not see it as a tragedy?

I feel very sorry for the OP. She has said that she married in to the community, lives on a settled site and did not pull her daughters out of education, with one at university. Despite that, there are numerous posts that piled on about issues caused by some travellers.

I think this was a chance to have a civilised discussion rather than the usual slanging match every time this subject comes up and it has been wasted.

What's with the 'you'? What evidence do you have that the OP personally does this? Would you lump all members of any other group together as 'you'? If you read her post, you'd see that her family pay council tax.

Quite. I'm not surprised she hasn't been back for over 24 hours.

why Do some travellers leave the sites in such a state with rubbish and sewage and waste all the time

A bunch of Irish Travellers have been living next to my estate in about 12 motor homes, in a Park Car Park of a local authority in Greater Manchester
They finally left last week.

They were allowed to stay for 8 weeks by the local council as one of their group was ill. The person was assessed under the Human Rights on welfare grounds.

Our life was hell whilst they were here.
They were noisy, there kids were running riot at all hours. And we had to put up the 24 hour continuous din of their generator..

Our block of flats is less than ten yards from where they set up the car park site.
With our bedrooms directly facing their site.

So throughout the boiling hot heatwave weather. We could not open the bedroom windows at night or sleep because of their noise and din of the generator.

We also have old people living in our flats who are older and have been here for nearly forty years and four people who works shifts.

We are now very worried that the word will get around and that this car park will become a regular site for visiting Travellers.

As one lot leave. Another turn up and take their place.Our life would be hell if that happened

We have complained to the local council to see what are going to do about securing the car park.

Also south of where l live there. There has been reports of Travellers trying to set up camps on playing fields, greenbelt areas and Supermarket and even School and Hospital Car Parks.

Why don't Travellers organise a legal Nationwide network of sites that they own, pay for utilities and maintain?

I love this I love that you’re soo open and will answer questions frankly . I run an ironing business and regularly have some lovely travelling ladies who bring me 20 plus hours of ironing . Always beautifully washed smells heavenly and very good quality clothing and bedding . Sometimes a man I guess a husband will drive his wife to collect the ironing but never gets out of the car to help me and his elderly wife put it all in the car is this because laundry is classed as women’s work “ ? Doesn’t bother me I’m soo used to humping huge amounts of bags baskets etc around I just wondered

I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through.

Have you actually read any of the previous posts. The same question has been asked umpteen times and it's obvious that the OP has long gone.

I’m sorry if this is really random, but I’m involved in breastfeeding education and support and wondered if you could suggest any way we could improve breastfeeding rates in the traveller community? There’s a significant Irish traveller community in my area, and we don’t get any interest from the mums, they just say it’s ’not the traveller way’ We see the traveller mums regularly in antenatal clinics, often having babies really close together, and whilst this is again the tradition for them, it’s not without risk for mum and baby. How do we reach these mums without causing offence?

Very interesting OP! I am from abroad living in the UK so have not watched any travelling programs nor has my English husband made any remarks/comments on travelling people so this has been enlightening. I have seen the camps and the only thing I thought was how on earth do you a) stay on top of your laundry if you are travelling from one site to another? Dirty laundry just gets to me -even on holiday b) look so well kept in a caravan? My husband and I are yachties I suppose in that we sail most weekends weather dependent and after a weekend on the boat we are both a state with our crumped clothes and unkept hair etc! Share the tips to stay immaculate in a small space.

Dont feel bad about finances I have a corp job and only work because I want to not because I need to. My salary is my own - my husband does all the other bits (I have a file and a man to call should anything happen) 😁

The Romany travellers ladies have been banned from all the shops where I live because they have been shoplifting too much. Many of them sit in the streets with their children begging. I guess this is all I've seen so far from travellers so nice to get some more info. Tbf they are from eastern Europe so maybe not at all part of your crowd?

I'm in Ireland and the council tend to put boulders or low head room barriers on areas to try to stop them. I really feel for you, if I were you I'd be kicking up a fuss with whoever you can. You do not want this to become a regular haunt. House prices will drop and thefts will rise. There's a LOT of cocaine use (and dealing) with the men now which makes them even scarier than usual.

I hate talking about any group in this way, but look up the stats in Ireland, I think it's fair for people to be alert without being racist.

I'm intrigued as to some of the behaviour. We had an illegal encampment near us near a forest and there was human excrement throughout the woodland, when asked why they do that they said they don't go on their own caravans. Not only that but unfortunately they leave a tonne of rubbish behind. I'm curious as to why they do that if they would like more tolerance from the wider community?

Do people in your community pay income tax, or is all work done cash in hand?

As far as I know gypsy was a name originally given to Romany/Romani/Roma people due to a mistaken belief at one point that they came from Eygpt.

What do you do with your rubbish?

That sounds possible. I know there is a group that identify as "Gypsy" and don't consider it a slur.

I'm racking my brains on that one!

But what has she been through? I read the whole long post and all I could see that she'd "been through" was: "They were noisy, there kids were running riot at all hours. And we had to put up the 24 hour continuous din of their generator."

In other words, they were noisy.

I mean - lucky you, and her - I suppose, if noisy neighbours for 8 weeks qualifies as unimaginable suffering.

@Boobiez on the breastfeeding, someone else has given a really good answer about this but I can't remember who! Basically - galactosemia is far more common among Irish travellers. This condition makes breastmilk (and other milks like cow/ standard formula etc) very dangerous. It's actually safer for Irish travellers not to breastfeed until the baby is confirmed not to have galactosemia. If in UK rather than ROI, this can take a long time (by newborn standards i.e. over a week), during which the baby will be bottle fed soy formula. It can be difficult to establish breastfeeding after this. And there could be residual fear of breastmilk - a perception that soy formula is safer, even if doctors tests have confirmed breastmilk is safe.

The problem is though, that the OP is the exception rather than the norm. Seems she hasn’t really conformed to the description of what many of us have experienced from the travelling community, so the questions we are posing aren’t really relevant to the OPs situation.

I've never understood why travellers get such a hard time for working for "cash in hand" when so many non-travellers are quite clearly happy to hire and pay them on these terms.

You should maybe consider writing a book about your experience. This thread proves how interested people would be in it.

I dont think the OP is particularly exceptional for a traveller from a settled site. We've got one near us and there's never been any trouble or conflict with the wider community in the 20 years I've lived here.

Where do you have a shower then?