So my quiet town had a visit from our traveller 'friends' this week and

[AndThatsWhatIThinkOfYou]

They wonder why people are so against them setting up camp where ever they please.

They arrived last Wednesday on a football field with a park and caused a whole load of trouble, for example, going to the petrol station handing over euros, being told they won't accept euros as payment, they simple got in their vans and drove of.

Made a visit to our local Sainsburys got caught shoplifting, were locked in until police were called.

Local children playing on park got beaten up with sticks by the traveller children.

And to top it all of 3 vans pulling up outside a local pub, very busy, dropping their trousers and all three disgusting men casually took a shit one by one on the pub doorstep. Got in there vans and drove of.

Then left the football field and park in an absolute mess. Rubbish everywhere.

Each incident police were called but nothing has been done.

So AIBU to wonder why travellers think this behavior is acceptable? and why can't anything be done to stop it?

So all of us the problems that those of us have experienced are due to poverty and being misunderstood(no sweeping generalisation there).Well that's ok then.

The vast maj of law offenders have a history soooooo lets just excuse it and turn a blind eye to all.

Well I have never been spoken to like that by a child that young. And we live in not the nicest London borough.

can you back that statement up, cheesey?

Al0uise it's neither deluded nor foolish not to think badly of an entire group of people. More accurately, it's not being a bigot.

I have to say this blanket refusal to except the neg and accuse those who object as being racist causes half the problems.

Residents get more scared as they know they are above the law and anybody who objects is accused of being racist then once they're there fat lot you can do soooo they become more resistant.....and so it goes on.

When a new traveller site is announced residents are 9 times out of 10 worried or up in arms-or did I imagine that?

Worried and up in arms

I'm confident that most off the perfect non-racist people on here would be the first whinging if their town was affected and they were the victims of crime.

Of not off

I think there are bad people in any group tbh, sounds like you met several of them OP.

On the other hand I have lived very close to traveller settlements on several occasions and never had any problems. On the whole they were settled communities though and not massive groups....certainly not Dale Farm size. Just smaller communities living their lives and going about their business without causing any problems to other people.

IMO it's when you get huge groups of people living together that you see bad elements ....just check out any town on a Saturday night to see what the non-travellers get up to,

What's your confidence based on, dingit?

I have Jake.

We don't have problems.

I'm back, I can't let some of these comments go.

AlOuise damn right I don't think badly of an entire group who contains some members of whom may have behaved badly. I think badly of the individuals who have behaved badly because I try not to be bigotted.

Coconutty, I also once knew an Indian family who didn't cut their grass very often. The whole subcontinent must be up to their armpits in long grass

Nearly everyone on this thread who has had travellers stop in their villages illegally has had negative experiences.

Wether it being from crime rates soaring, trespassing, violence and threatening behaviour, animals stolen, and leaving the place they are staying illegally in a shit tip.

That is not a coincidence nor is it a conspiracy. These are actual incidents.

so why are we being called racist (not sure traveller is a race?) being ignored and instead of saying well yeah actually why should we put up with it, who foots the bill after the trail of destruction?

cos it ain't them!!!

Travellers are a recognised ethnic group, OP. Therefore discrimination against them, or prejudice, is racist. Some of your earlier posts, which have now thankfully been deleted, were especially repugnant.

WTF yet another openly racist thread about travellers that MNHQ is allowing to stand.

I read your post MNHQ and you said ;

But we will delete reported posts that make blanket negative assertions or generalisations about all Travellers

Well that would be the opening post for a start.

If this was about peoples experiences 'positive or negative' about black people, it would be deleted, so please say why this thread is acceptable?

You post makes no sense, as you say you will delete posts containing negative generalisations, yet here it still is.

Teacherwith2kids thoughtful and patient posts.

Someone said people with positive experiences of travellers seem not to have lived alongside them?

not true.

I went to school with traveller children, my children still do, I have traveller friends and traveller family on my paternal side. I dont live in leafy dorset, I live in SE London in an area with a longstanding traveller community.

I have never personally had a bad experience.

Travellers are a race, and a law has been passed in 1976, I just googled it.

Because all of the people against travellers have had bad experiences. All the people banging on about being racist are just jumping on the band wagon. Human nature says they will complain just like the rest!

I am not in the minority. I live in a large village, and most of the residents, like me are less than thrilled at the new occupants of the park. And I don't give a toss whether that's racist or not.

So I am a bigot and a racist because I can only report on my bad personal experiences with people from a particular ethnic group i.e Irish Travellers. Now that doesn't make me dislike the Irish, that would be silly, especially as I have Irish Parentage, but it does make be wary of Irish Travellers. When I have a good experience I will report it for balance.

On the other hand any Romanian Gypsies I have encountered recently have been civil, polite and respectful. There were some incidents in our Town of them carrying very lethargic children about 10 years ago but that was stopped by the Police.

Oh and my cousin is a new age traveller - he is a drug addict who doesn't want his parents help and just ignores his two children from whom he is estranged. I find it hard to defend him as he's a waste of skin but some of his mates may be nice.