To tell the travellers...

[Starbuck999]

By my parents house to please fuck off?

Story is, my parents and their neighbours all clubbed together to buy a lovely piece of land that their terrace of houses over looks. None of them are rich and it was a large buy for them all but they all keep is beautifully and it is a lovely view for them all to enjoy, it's only a small patch of land, not what one could consider to be a field even. i think they have (had) plans to make it a play area for all the local children, or a sports field or something similar.

4 weeks ago, overnight, a few caravans appeared. Of course the residents went to speak to them to say it was private land (which they already knew as there are huge "private" signs all round it and they actually smashed down a large section of the fencing to drive their caravans in.) But the travellers refused to budge. They were very matter of fact and reasonably polite about the fact that they would not be moving and they knew the residents couldnt do anything to make them move right away. Lovely.

Now, whilst I fully appreciate anyone's right to live how they want, surely it should not be at the expense of others. It must be wonderful to live such a free life, moving from place to place if that is what you choose, but how can you not expect to pay? Caravans sites cost say £25 a night, they should be paying to stay in one, or buy their own land and live there.

The field is now horrendous. More and more caravans have been moved in, I'd say there's no about 20. There are huge piles of broken up crates, broken buggies, televisions etc and massive piles of general hosehold rubbish and food waste in black bags that have been split open by foxes I presume all round the edge of the land. It's starting to look like a landfill site!

I don't have the full details but basically the residents have been told nothing can be done to get rid of them right away, it will take time through the courts. Then they will be moved on. That's all that will happen. Now If I parked my car somewhere illegal it would be clamped, towed and I'd have a hefty fine - why doesn't the same apply?

AIBU?

"It's been interesting to note that the posters who are defending travellers 'rights' to land have not been quick to offer their own land or property, but have instead offered spurious arguements in favour of the right to trespass - or played the racist card." Maisie, in my first post on this thread, I mentioned the existence of a company that 'takes care' of Traveller evictions for residents or communities. Now granted, I don't know if this company is some crowd of glorified protection racketeers, run by the Travellers themselves, but it exists and might bear investigation. I will not mention its name here but I advised googling it.

It is not the best solution to the problems faced by property owners or Travellers, but it was potentially constructive advice on dealing with the immediate problem to hand, for the time being, perhaps until next week or whenever the next group arrives...

I don't see anyone coming out in favour of the right to trespass, but some thoughtful posts pointing out that trespass law is complex and that assumptions about anyone's right to sole and exclusive use and occupation of their 'private property' may be unfounded. Again, Starbuck, with the harping on about breaking the law -- read the law, or get someone to explain it to you.

Travellers are affected by prejudice when they apply for planning permission on land they own (another indication that when it comes to land you are not the undisputed king of your castle) and also when they turn up at paid sites, or when they try to book wedding venues, or engage in commercial activity of various other kinds with the settled community. It's not as simple as saying buy your own land and get planning permission like everyone else.

I think if Starbuck was really interested in just getting advice on moving the Travellers along (to someone else's property no doubt) she would have posted in Legal and not AIBU.

Math- I'm loving your posts

As Math keeps trying to say, it's not that Travellers are above the law- it's just the same for anybody who trespasses. If Math settled on Starbuck's parents' land now it would be hard for them to get rid of her too.

Morriszap - around here lots of travellers do try to set up their own sites on land they have bought. Invariably local people object to that too and they find it hard to get planning permission.

"Nobody is forced to live in a caravan. If they don't want to pay to stay on campsites or pay farmers to use their land (which means leaving it in a decent state of course) and they don't want to buy their own land then perhaps living in a caravan isn't possible. Life choices shouldn't rely on being able to break the law and causing others misery just so you can live the way you want."

Starbuck, I agree. It is highly irresponsible (and unnecessary) to turn someone's private land into something that resembles a landfill site in the process of every day living and make your neighbours' life miserable in the process. Travellers complain that the settled community oppose their applications for planning permission but unfortunately a lot of the prejudice is justified.

I have A LOT of sympathy for travellers that live decently, but to an outsider it seems as though some travellers are making life unnecessarily hard for the majority of the travelling community by causing maximum upset to those that are unfortunate enough to live near the area that they choose to decimate.

We have a couple of sites used illegally by traveller around here.

When they arrive crime spikes, they go door to door offering substandard labouring work, then dumping the refuse in farmers fields and woodland instead of at the tip where they would have to pay. When they leave it costs thousands to clean up after them.

I've yet to see evidence of a quiet decent majority.

Sympathy and compassion for the traveller way of life is seriously misplaced.