AIBU to find it disgusting that gypsies have taken over a school playground

[Adizzylass2014]

whilst attending my best friends wedding today in a little village I was horrified to see that gypsies had taken over the school playground. There was rubbish all over the floor, children and dogs running all over the place and scantily clad women puffing away.
why a school playground, these people have no morals. The poor caretaker is going to have his work cut out for him as there was at least 15 caravans!

What ifinishedthebiscuits said

I'm waiting to see MNHQ's comment on this thread. Not an easy one when such strong feelings are aroused.

I am a traveller, romany to be precise and going back centuries.
Most travellers settled when the laws changed during the 60's, it became harder for gypsies to travel, because they were moved after 24 hours.
The usual stay for travellers used to be a month or so and they would travel to help farmers mostly, or to trade their own wares.
This isn't possible now and many are encouraged to settle on camps, which is good I suppose, for those who want this.
I don't agree they should use school playgrounds or hospitals, etc but imo common ground should be available for travellers as long as they don't leave a mess.
In fairness, I can see why people would be worried about them leaving such a mess, it's disgusting and really anti romany ways anyway. True travellers love nature and would be likely to leave the place spotless.

Thank you coconutty, I did miss that.

I have lived and worked alongside settled travellers, they were part of the community, my son had two children in his class from the community. They rarely missed school and tended to travel in the summer holidays for seasonal work etc. the rest of the year they grew and sold their own produce etc and Dad was a licensed scrap metal dealer. I cannot speak for the others in this community excerpt to say I never experienced any issues with the .

However, near to me now there is a large settled community where issues ARE present. I cannot drive past the site without my car being spat at by one of the many youths hanging around the entrance. This is a council run site with plenty of facilities. This is NOT the behaviour of all the travellers but a minority who in largish numbers cause a great deal of damage to the well behaved majority. The. Again if you hang around town on a Saturday night you will see equally bad behaviour and worse by non-travellers.

They do pay their way where i am on the site in my town, i have googled our local site before and they pay taxes and upkeep as far as i can see as there is quite a bit info online about the site. They work as tree surgeons and builders etc as my ex knows some of them through his grandfather and his line of work. I think you can pay to stay on our local site form the info online and some locals have lived there before when they have found themselves homeless. There's another legal site a few towns over as well. I have no idea if the kids go to school or not but there are 3 primariy schools close by.

We have an authorised travellers site near us...with chalet type housing etc and caravans.
They don't as far as I know cause a problem - they are in the countryside away from most houses but along the road past is often strewn with litter - I see the council workmen clearing up there more regularly than other similar surrounding roads. They have council bins - they leave them at the gates.
Last time I drove past I noticed that some were lying on their sides (so I assume empty) but some were overfull, lids not closed, bags at the sides etc and obvious non-recyclables in the recycled bins. Then a few hours later (it was collection day) they all seem to have been emptied and tidied...whereas if other residents put over full bins out or non recyclables in the recycled bins (even if due to a passerby putting something in the bin when they out waiting for collection) they get tagged and not emptied... did piss me off a bit.
The other problem is the site is growing - caravans appear outwith the boundaries, even on the opposite site of the road. They do get moved but then they make the site a bit bigger....(but there is lots of space anyway - some of the chalet type ones have long drives, gates and walls - much bigger outside space around them than most people have...)
Now I don't know how true this is ...but I've been told that the person who the land belongs to bought it (as cheap agricultural land) from the farmer and then made it into a travelers site.

The traveler's were moved from other land he owned about 30 miles away in a similar location. Similar had happened - the site was expanded etc till it was as big as the total land he had bought. Then after a number of years they moved onto the new site (seems they had a deal) and he put in planning application to build houses on the land. He would never have got permission before - agricultural land away from other dwellings - but because of the travelers it was now classed as residential. (Also land for residential building costs 10x as much as agricultural). He got permission, built a few expensive houses in a prime rural location and made a killing...
If this is true - and this is what does happen - I can only assume/hope he will then buy more cheap land for a site or they will have nowhere to go ...
I can see how that upsets farmers who struggle to get permission to build a retirement bungalow in their yards...and for people who need cheap housing...
We have also had travelers in the local city -about 5 miles away more than once who left an horrendous mess and caused problems in local restaurants/bars. We also had some french travelers who (seemingly) didn't cause a problem and tidied up after themselves...
I think we have to take some responsibility too...those baths etc come from someone who has had a job done cheaply by the travelers -other tradesmen may have cost more because they had to pay for disposal. Maybe we need to ask for evidence of waste disposal etc.

Yes you did TheFormidableMrsC

I can't remember the exact wording, but instead of blaming those individuals you blamed travellers/gypsies in general.

It cost 7 million to evict Dale Farm traveller's and who knows what else has been spent clearing other sites with legal costs etc. In county Durham and Northumberland there is an article online, It cost 4 million to upgrade 12 pitches and create a further 11 across the region.

Worra that's no explanation for calling a diverse bunch of people a 'race'.
Do you actually have one?

Google will have a better explanation than me. I don't trust myself to explain it properly SallyingForth.

If travellers are embarrassed by the actions of others in their community they should speak out against them, but they don't, they close ranks

That's interesting, and certainly in some cases this seems to have happened - at least towards those the travellers see as outsiders. What happens within their own communities, though? Do they clamp down on criminal behaviour, or do they take the view (as some have suggested on here) that it's not worth bothering as some think they're trash anyway? I honestly don't know

Oh, and the idea of tarring everyone with the same brush works both ways ...

Worra that's no explanation for calling a diverse bunch of people a 'race'.

Irish Travellers are the very opposite of diverse and they are legally a distinct ethnic grouping under the race relations act.

If you're lumping in Travellers with Roma and anyone else for some reason, thats a different matter.

Over the years it has become harder and harder for nomadic people to live their way of life.
Laws have been used to attempt to criminalise and destroy an ancient way of living.
I find it an utter disgrace.

No one in this country should be above the law. Laws should be made based on the best information at the time and everyone should be expected to abide.

You can't have on rule for a group of people and one rule for another. The different treatment is what breeds resentment. You can''t expect some people to have to live in one way and then another group to have things on their terms and there not to be dissatisfaction? I'd quite like to only send my children to school Monday-Thursday, that would suit my lifestyle more, am I allowed? NO.

I'm Jewish, I don't think that some of our cultural practices, or the practices of the orthodox should be allowed. I believe non-essential/medical circumcision should be illegal. Yes lots of my relatives will complain bitterly and sulk and say their culture is being eroded. Tough shit. The law is the law, and saying you were brought up to do something is not an excuse. Some children are brought up to be violent or steal but we don't accept that.

There are issues with Irish Travellers and grooming of young girls and slave labour. These are known issues within my area, and while we have many settled traveller sites in my part of London, these problems are creating tension because there is not the faith in police/council that the travellers will be subject to the same scrutiny.

I hear the yearly boat licence which allows people to live -in and move around on the canals stopping at temporary moorings is being stopped,also.
I haven't confirmed if this is fact or rumour though.

You can't have one rule for a group of people and one rule for another. The different treatment is what breeds resentment. You can''t expect some people to have to live in one way and then another group to have things on their terms and there not to be dissatisfaction

Very well said

Remember what happened to the 'new age' travellers in the 80's, hesterton ?

I can see what mobilised people to the road and canals happening now,just as it did in the 80's.
And no doubt it'll be crushed again -but would they be able to cover up the police brutality used in the 80's against the travellers,now,30 years later?

I live in a village on the south coast. Travellers move onto the park here, they smash the fence down to get in and it takes a couple of weeks to get them moved on and the mess left behind is appalling.

They then move to a beach car park meaning no one can access the beach or park as its a no go zone. There is understandably resentment locally that local children cannot access local facilities that we pay to maintain through our council tax and the travellers are basically having a free holiday at the seaside. They only turn up in the summer months.

Half the car park at another beach is taken over, a car park where it costs £10 to park for the day and they are there for weeks with washing lines strung up and kids running wild. They leave so much mess. It's not unreasonable to expect that if they want to be treated with respect, that they treat the places they live with respect, is it?