Travellers... where are they supposed to go?

[40somethingJBJ]

A post on my local “Spotted” group about travellers having pulled up on a car park nearby got me thinking. A good chunk of the comments were saying the police needed calling to get them moved, and then a couple were saying they needed reporting for moving around, and “if we’ve got to stay put, so should they”.

But where exactly are they supposed to stay put? The whole thing about being a traveller is that they travel. Nobody wants them parked up near by, yet the same people want them to get in trouble for moving around. Seems a bit of a no-win situation really!

Anyway, I’m not trying to cause any arguments about rights or wrongs, I’m giving no opinions whatsoever on this group of people, I’m just musing and wondering where exactly they are supposed to go at a time like this?

They do genuinely have my sympathy at the moment, as it must be very difficult for them to go anywhere at the moment.

It is a difficult situation. It’s not like they’re towing caravans around to go on holiday - they live in them! I don’t really know what the solution is.

There is an official travellers site near me ,not sure how many family's can be accommodated on it though

Surely they should be staying on whichever legal site that they are currently on, rather than traveling at the moment?

There aren’t enough legal sites to accommodate all the travelling community though I don’t think. Most of them seem to live from one car park to another, and I’m assuming these don’t have a base as such.

The government could make spaces available for those travellers not on an official site in land that's unused at the moment due to the virus - e.g. football and cricket pitches.

I'm a Romany gypsy
There are not enough legal sites for us and when we buy are own land they kick us off .

Given the way we have been able to set up the Nightingale hospitals so quickly, if we want to discourage travellers moving around due to Covid-19 then perhaps it might be possible to set up temporary sites with facilities. Of course this depends on whether they would actually want to stay there and their movement be curtailed. I am sure they are just as worried as the rest of us about keeping their families safe.

It depends on the individual family, some have land or housing, others literally travel and there's not enough sites. Perhaps some of the many currently empty holiday parks could step up for a reasonable nightly rate

I think you're very local to me as I recognise the post and the comments! I agree I do have some slight sympathy. The car park they are using wont be being used currently and I'm not aware of any official sites locally they can use BUT they do always leave sites a mess and they dont have the right to just park wherever they want...

I would love to know how every non gypsy thinks we dont pay taxes

There is good and bad in every body
I dont think every non gypsy man is a pedifile
Or every single mother is going to kill her children to go out partying
Or every non gypsy child is going to lead my child to death

That would be very narrow minded of me and what I see on tv about non gypsy I would be scared to death to go out and be among people

You dont know how the government and police and the the tv treats us
And I hope none of your children have to go through what mine do

God bless you all and keep safe

A show about Irish travellers showed that many (not all obviously) had a house in a certain town in Ireland. Each year, many travellers return to the town for a party/festival of sorts, but otherwise travel about. I guess some might have returned to these homes rather than trying to keep travelling around? Hopefully someone in the know can update us?

Another option for some would be to camp up in the garden/drive of a traveller that does have home. They continue to live in their caravan and keep the families separate?

Shoving people together in convenient empty car parks is a bit counterproductive to social distancing.....
People remember, we are talking about people.

I don't know if you'd describe my niece and her partner as 'travellers'. They are not Romany or Irish Travellers. They run a business working at festivals over the summer and live in their van. Out of the 'season' they stay with friends or family. They employ people seasonally, pay all the relevant taxes and NI etc. (I'm only including this because of the bile poured out by some posters about the lifestyle they assume travelling people live.)

Anyway. At the moment they are in my mum's house. She went into a care home back in December and the house has been empty since. She's happy for them to be there and it's better for the house to have someone in it. What impact this might have on council tax etc I don't know yet (and it's not me looking after the house) but they'll pay anything they need to.

Lots of travellers dont travel, or travel infrequently.

That aside, yes, the govt should step up and turn some unused communal green spaces/sports pitches into temporary stopping places. With appropriate sanitation I.e. not one set of sinks for all purposes.. it could easily be done. I'm guessing the reluctance comes from a fear of not being able to move people in when this is less of a crisis.

Travellers generally have much poorer health outcomes than most other groups in UK so if there are problems then they need sorting urgently.

There are not enough legal sites for us and when we buy are own land they kick us off

Possibly because there is no planning permission to turn the land (usually farmland) into residential

Also wondering if you're near me as this is on my local spotted too! I went out for a walk round the park earlier and saw them.

@Anneofgreengables1 some people are judgy and ridiculous. I'm not a traveller and I don't pay taxes because I don't earn enough.

@TheQueef its really possible for the vans to be a decent length apart you know!! very easily done

some of us live near the fixed sites. i'm not going to sugar coat what happens

why should i? enough threads on here about noisy neighbours.....let me tell you about ours, who happen to be a travelling community on the fixed site.

We have occasionally 1-2 caravans/ travellers parked up in a layby. They do get moed on a regular basis as its an stop point for lorries facing downhill. But there are around 5 all cramped together since lockdown. I don't think moving them along into the sunset is sensible at the moment & police probably work on the same principle. There is even a sign stating that the layby is cloed.
I think all councils should provide a safe place for travellers, no not a layby but a field.