AIBU to feel sorry for the travellers near us

[dorsetdumpling]

We had some travellers arrive near us on Monday. They have been no problems and have told the council they will leave on Sunday as there is an event on the field where they are.

I'm a bit annoyed that a couple of snobby residents have been interviewed in the local rag saying its a disgrace.

I would love to tell the travellers that we don't all hold that opinion.

well they have 'plonked' themselves on a bit of land that they don't own for starters. people just can't go around doing that no matter what people think

are you really not allowed to use a washingline? :S

I did email the journalist who wrote the article and ask her how many residents did she acutally speak to.

They're camping for free on land they don't own and which they have not asked permission to use.

I work at a girls' school as an SEN TA with 2 Irish Traveller students (both statemented, there about about 20 Irish Traveller girls at the school from year 7-11) and I have been to the permanent site they all live on a few times and it puts many residential streets and estates to shame in terms of rubbish/mess etc. Not only is the site clean and tidy there are beautiful potted plants and shrubs around each trailer and tiny wooden fences showing the divide between each pitch. If anyone did leave any rubbish the site managers would be on the case anyway. I believe, given somewhere decent to live, this would be the case for most sites.

It also shocks me how 'normal' discrimination/racism against Irish Travellers seems to be (certainly where I live anyway).

I didn't know that about washing lines. come to think of it we are the only ones on my row of houses. I always have washing on it.

We stayed in a self-catering lodge where you weren't allowed to use a washing line except in communal areas, which were far from our lodge so anyone could have come along and nicked your washing.

And yet, when I researched it, the site fees were about £3,500/annum (and this was two years ago)!

I think one's attitude is largely formed according to one's experience of having travellers nearby.

Some will be good, many neutral, some bad.

My only issues are: the state they left our local park in when they finally moved on (human faeces in all the hedges, dumped mattresses and ovens in the bushes) and more than once watching 'someone' hot tailing it over my back fence should I come home early. Obviously I don't know that it was the traveller kids attempting burglary but BOTH my immediate neighbours lost stuff over that 3 week period. Coincidence? Maybe.

yes they may not be the same people but they are the same in the fact that none of them pay for what they use or where they are

they should abide by the same laws and rules as the rest of us

Travelers... lol. We call them squatter's in Canada. You can't just pull up in a public park here with your trailer and start camping.

YANBU. Some of the people on here are doing quite a good job of perpetuating the myths about travellers. Lots of them do pay taxes and have jobs. Some of them don't. Lots of them abide by the laws, some of them don't. Some 'squat' on private land, some don't. To me that sounds representative of the adult population in this country...

Poundbury is 20% social housing. We have had some serious problems. Do I think everyone in social housing is the same. Of course not. Some of them don't pay tax either.

dumpling they don't own the land they've put their caravans on. If they did, no-one would have any issue with them.

"Their way of life" is no excuse for crime. It is 2011.

one thing which is common to all travellers is that they dont pay council tax.
Whilst I respect their way of life, and their right to it, I believe this entitles them to park their caravan on land that they dont own without paying any rent or for the upkeep of said land. I believe that travellers SHOULD have somewhere that they can legally park, and access schools and healthcare should they need it. I also believe that they should have to PAY for it like everyone else does. Why should I have to put up with less service for the council tax I pay so that part of it can be diverted into cleaning up after others who dont pay? Notice I say DONT pay, I have no objection to contributing towards costs of those who cant pay.
With regards to stealing and leaving crap everywhere, I have seen travellers who leave a disgraceful mess afterthemselves, and I have seen those who dont. I have known stuff go missing while they are about (most notably around £3k of top quality saddles and other equestrian stuff that I spent 10 years of my life scrimping and saving to afford, stolen the same day that a group of travellers came to the yard asking if the owner needed any trees/fencing doing) and I have also known times when travellers were about and nothing went missing. There are good ones and bad ones, like any society.

sorry that should read "dont believe that entitles them"!

Someone I know had travellers on the playing field behind her house. They used her new fence as firewood, that was nice of them wasn't it?

Another lady I know had them at the bottom of the field she rents from the council for her horses and arrived several times to find them nosing around. When they left a lot of her tack and equipment disappeared at the same time. What a massive coincidence.

Every year they come to our city and camp in the parks. Every year it takes thousands of pounds to clear up after them.

I'm afraid that as long as things like this keep happening then travellers aren't doing themselves any favours and can't expect to be welcomed. Of course we all know that there are decent people, the same with any community, but when they pitch up there is no way of knowing is there, so people are bound to be suspicious.

rogersmellyonthetelly
What about benefit scroungers and the like who do not pay anything and want everything given to them on a plate. Do you respect their way of life?

RitaBix - no I dont. I believe that all who can pay their way should, and I believe that those who genuinely cant pay their way should get help.
Fact is, most traveller men do work and have an income, so they can afford to pay.

Well the fracking travellers that pitched up near the farm where I ride out left a complete shit heap including 2 burnt out cars and a completely trashed caravan which the coucil had to clear up. The 'real' or Irish travellers that I have experience of have zero respect for land, animals or property. It's no wonder there is so much prejudice against them.

Apparantly years ago, people used to leave some kind of sign on their gates to let travellers know if they were welcome or not. So are there not enough places where they are welcome now or are there more travellers because surely there must historically be places where they were excepted.

There are good ones and bad ones. As well as horsy stuff sometimes going missing, they are also known for plonking their own horses in other people's fields, free of charge!

yep, had that one too Nijinsky. Turned up one morning to find a piebald mare in with my tb. He was pleased with his new friend, I was rather less impressed. Piebald mare foaled that night, following day the owner tried to sell me the foal for £600, tried to tell me it was by Oberon. Yeah, right.