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?

police investigating allegation of hate crime

The "Adchoices" has just shown up in my screen with "TheBailiffHub...24 hour Gypsy eviction". .....random!

Actually welter, my cousins are all either serving or retired police officers and I have to say that their experiences are similar to yours. It's an issue that Violet Cannon addresses in her book about being a Gypsey/Traveller and is an eye opener. As a midwife I was always welcomed on sites...although I made them my last visit of the day (or end of the morning) as I could guarentee that by the time I had finished with a new Mum there would be a small queue of women waiting to ask my advice about various health issues!

I am not negating anyone's experiences here because it is apparent that a small minority of people in the community DO cause problems. Just as they do in the non-travelling community. The issue in the travelling community though is their mistrust of anyone outside it. That inevitably leads to clashes with the police....my cousins say their primary plan when dealing with any traveller site is "quickly in and out" before things can escalate too much.

Yes, I spent all my time chasing after those nasty crims and shouting "you're nicked sunshine!".

Never encountered anyone who wasn't a criminal, never did any community work, never interviewed a victim of crime, never had a chat with a lovely old lady about the weather. None of that. All nasty criminals. All of the time.

Welterstrip I imagine the fact that police are present gives a high chance of there being something negative?

never did any community work, never interviewed a victim of crime, never had a chat with a lovely old lady about the weather

Did you ever go to a traveller camp to do any of those things?

And how did you know that none of these pleasant people that you came across in your work were not travellers welter? Do you always know where people live when you speak to them?
There were traveller children at my school, very few people knew they are travellers, I expect due to the feelings of many poele on this thread! They were not badly behaved, they did not steal from people at school, they (funnily enough) did not shit in the playground! According to your post you would never assume that they were traveller children as due to their pleasant behaviour they couldn't possibly be?

Personally, I was involved with an attempt to visit a site once - community engagement. A slightly different tact to reduce the incidence of "petty" crime we'd seen after the camps' arrival. A soft touch approach you might call it.

Didn't end terribly well.

It involved shit.

I blame the uniform. Far too authoritarian.

That's so sad coconutty

wharrgarbyl that was an interesting article, thanks for posting it

As usual, what mrsdv said

In my work I have worked with traveller girls, there is a huge culture of abuse. The ones I have spoken to are the absolute tip of the iceberg. They hugely fear being excluded from the community so they don't speak out - also they are not at school/around non travellers. And the "grabbing" tradition is disgusting and have delt with many many highly distressed girls after they have been grabbed.

"Grabbing" appears to be the preserve of a certain sector of the travelling community. I keep mentioning Violet Cannon on here but she was very clear that if a man had attempted to "grab" her then he would have felt the wrath of her father as well as herself. Her book "Gypsy Princess" is well worth a read and she says she would not have accepted such an advance. ....and fortunately has never experienced it.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/aug/14/gypsies-travellers-domestic-abuse

In other sectors of the travelling community grabbing is accepted. For these young females they are being taught that it is ok for men to grab and force themselves on you. Friends even get involved in helping to restrain the girl.

The issue is the isolation and fear of what will happen if they speak out. Often leaving school early so advice from peers/teachers about what is acceptable behaviour has just sunk in.

The stat someone posted upthread about the average age being 39 doesn't surprise me. I often hear an intense mistrust of hosptal staff so will try not to go, by time they do it may well be too late.

Also you can imagine it is hard to get follow up blood/smear test/scan results if moving around and places can't keep up with where to send info.

Coconutty I know that - I work with all sectors. However the culture of acceptance is very different in the travellers that I have experienced. It is truley heart breaking hearing it. It is very hard to get statistics on it. However some I have read suggests a much much higher percentage of women/children will be abused and that it takes almost double the length of time to say anything - if at all.

If you grow up with Mum being beaten by Dad, same happening to cousins Mum, friends Mum, neighbours Mum. Then that is the norm to you - it wouldn't even occur to report it - that is just how it is.

I do believe that now there are more smart phones etc that people in osolated communities will start to speak out more as they will realise this is not ok and that ther eis help.

Wow. My post saying 'if the cap fits' in response to someone else bemoaning the OP being viewed as a bigot and racist is deleted, yet this disgusting thread is still here.

Really quite shocked at MNHQs stance on this TBH.

what is disgusting is what happened in our village.