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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

AIBU to go and ask travellers to behave?

146 replies

3MenAndMe · 31/08/2013 07:53

This may be longish..........
So they've descended onto our playfield,neighbouring with my house yesterday,I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw loads of caravans 7.30 in the morning and I didn't hear a thing(the main gate is next to my house,window open and was waking few times to my 10 week old)..

The police and thr council was there at 10am and said that they are at the process of removing them,however they are still here.Personally, I have nothing against them,their lives must be really hard....
BUT......

  • I can't take my LO for a walk in the pram(it feels really intimidating
-I can't walk my dogs without a lead anymore(they have couple of small dogs who chased mine yesterday,I have the feeling they are not vaccinated etc.) -My older boys usedto play there with their mates,riding bikes and I just feel it is not safe anymore

BUT THE WORST is the noise (music in the car till 5am),constant souting,lack of respect towards residents,shitting everywhere and coming to my house at 9 pm asking for flipping lighter (or just checking who is in the house).

Sorry for the rant,I'm a bit sleep deprived and it makes my PND worse...

OP posts:
mrsjay · 31/08/2013 09:43

we have non traveller families round here who are banned from every pub in town, and shops and generally make life horrible for the people around them

NiceTabard · 31/08/2013 09:45

Oh we have about 4 traveller sites within striking distance but they are sort of semi-permanent /permanent I think, I doubt there would be room for a group turning up and TBH unless they were invited / known to them I doubt they would be welcome.

FrigginRexManningDay · 31/08/2013 09:46

The laws are strong enough to deal with illegal dumping,anti social behaviour and vandalism.

MNHQ
KateSMumsnet · 31/08/2013 09:55

Morning everyone,

We'd just like to remind you all of our talk guidelines, and that sweeping generalisations, about any ethnic group, will be deleted.

Happy Saturday!

SubliminalMassaging · 31/08/2013 09:57

I wondered how long it would take for the deletions to start. Lightning quick today aren't we? Wink

SubliminalMassaging · 31/08/2013 09:58

I think there must be a laxon goes off in MNHQ when the word traveller is typed into a thread.

SubliminalMassaging · 31/08/2013 09:58

klaxon

mrsjay · 31/08/2013 09:59

oh dearie me oh well I dont think we were being nasty or finger pointing or generalising just sharing experiences nothing more,

TylerHopkins · 31/08/2013 10:08

There's a piece of land near me which I drive past every day coming home from work. Recently travellers moved on and I immediately thought 'here we go, the place will be trashed in no time'. However driving home one night I could see they'd piled up their bin bags in a pile ready for collection. A couple of days later the bags had gone. This happened again a few days later and then a day or so after that the travellers had gone and there was no rubbish in sight. I was quite Shock, after years of bad experiences with them had I finally witnessed a decent group?

Saying that, I didn't live close enough to them, they might have been behaving like the OP's travellers. And I certainly didn't go and inspect the land for excrement!!!

One thing that I did question was if the local council had removed their rubbish for them, would they have been charged? I hope so as it's unfair that everyone else pays for this through council tax.

SubliminalMassaging · 31/08/2013 10:13

But considering they all have cars vans and trailers etc, and they don't pay council tax if they are not on a permanent site, how hard would it have been to take it to the tip themselves, like settled people would be expected to do? Better to bag it up than not bag it up of course, but they are hardly pushing the boat out are they?

SubliminalMassaging · 31/08/2013 10:14

I always have to laugh like a drain at the pixillating out of so many men's faces in MBFGW.

mrsjay · 31/08/2013 10:15

would you not let the council leave the rubbish to blow about or would you want them to lift it, whether it was pad for or not is neither here nor there,

SubliminalMassaging · 31/08/2013 10:18

No of course the council should take it if it's been left, but it would be nice if the Travellers themselves could show some responsbility by clearing up after themselves properly, and not just assuming someone will do it for them.

3Men how are they getting access to water and electricity, do you know?

WeileWeileWaile · 31/08/2013 10:19

There was a site locally where the travellers had paid for their own rubbish removal, but they had left everything piled up when they left waiting to be collected. Locals then trashed the site hoping the travellers would get the blame, but the local paper had been out & taken photos of the area before it had been trashed (& were apparently bemused to be asked to come back to take photos of the mess).

And the extended family who had been there also paid for the site to be re cleaned

SilverApples · 31/08/2013 10:19

I agree mrsjay, far better to have the council and us pay to remove neatly bagged rubbish than be left with a total disaster area. The cleanup costs would be much higher.

'The laws are strong enough to deal with illegal dumping,anti social behaviour and vandalism.'

Grin You don't say which planet you are from, Frigging.

SubliminalMassaging · 31/08/2013 10:30

Funnily enough, when searching for something completely unrelated yesterday I stumbled across this article about a family who owned a plot of land for many years, and moved onto it when they lost their home due to business failure. They both ended up in jail.

Second article here

If only they were gypsies the law would have been differently applied altogether.

FrigginRexManningDay · 31/08/2013 10:49

Lol,not to out myself but my brother works in the court system and people are regularly fined for illegal dumping,vandalism and anti social behaviour. He told me of a case where a woman was fined for leaving a box of cans beside a recycling bin instead of in the bin (the bin was full),for illegal dumping.

SubliminalMassaging · 31/08/2013 10:55

I'd love to know how many fines for illegal dumping have been imposed on travelers in the last couple of years.

AndThatsWhatIThinkOfYou · 31/08/2013 10:59

hhmm me too, problem is they are hard to catch with moving about all time.

Original poster
3MenAndMe · 31/08/2013 11:01

As some of you posted culture and tradition is one thing,personal choice how to live but it should not affect lives of other.
The negative thing is their behaviour not who they are so their is no point of mentioning ''r'' word..........

OP posts:
SilverApples · 31/08/2013 11:10

Would you prefer the word itinerants to describe people who move around habitually, in caravans and who create illegal sites for days and weeks, leaving a despoiled landscape behind them that the residents have to deal with?
And who display ASB during their time in the locality?
Does that have any cultural or traditional implications or does it cover everyone from new age hippies to Travellers to Gypsies to Roma?

SilverApples · 31/08/2013 11:11

Holiday makers, caravanners, migrant labour, impoverished students who can't afford the rent?

littlemog · 31/08/2013 11:18

OP do NOT approach them yourself. Seriously, the repercussions could be nasty for you and your family. Report it to the police (as everyone else will do) and hope that they will act.

Good luck.

Original poster
3MenAndMe · 31/08/2013 11:26

I may and probably do sound like newbie but girls............

MASSSSSIVE THANK YOU for all support and suggestions.Ihonestly thought I will collapse today under tiredness and desperation...

OP posts:
Original poster
3MenAndMe · 31/08/2013 11:34

There is no water/electricity as it is only park/playfield used for football/cricket..
The other thing that worries me is that they seem to have large gas canisters...maybe it's silly but what if they explode??they are on the direct sunlight....close to my house....

OP posts: