I am a bit puzzled about this. In Rural Leicestershire there are a few folk who definitely travel; they have a small hoop topped wooden van and a horse tethered and grazing on the verge of a very minor road.
Near where I live there is a site with large caravans, on blocks with the wheels off and brick built toilet and washing facilities. This is fine, to me. That is where they live and good luck to them but where does the phrase travelers fit in to this?
The contentious site in Essex has people saying, on camera, we've been here for 7 years and we we aren't moving for anybody. There are also similar signs of permanence like brick walls and permanent buildings euphemistically called park homes which are immovable chalets. Whatever these people are they do not have much evidence of being travelers in the generally accepted sense of the word and there would appear to be legitimate questions about breaches of planning regulations. However it ends it will be expensive and messy.
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On that very subject Private Eye have a cracking cartoon that goes straight to the nub of the issue. No doubt people will cancel their subscriptions.
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They (well a proportion of them who we are talking about anyway) don't travel, but they claim they do so they don't have to pay income tax, rates, tax or register cars, TV license, in fact anything that contributes to the society upon which they prey. Its also very useful when appearing in court, makes it very easy to skip bail.
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What makes me laugh is that these people say they will be homeless - surely not, they are in effect caravanning and one would assume we have some sites that they can pitch up at, like thousands do each year.
If they want a park home, we also have a fair few of them about too, so I dont buy into this 'nowhere to go' rubbish nor do they seem short of a few quid either so Im sure they wont go hungry if they have to rent a pitch somewhere.
I can guarantee that if I buy a cheap bit of rural England, concrete it and stick a load of caravans and semi-permanant buildings on it, it wont be ten years before the local council ask me to push off. However, seeing how things are, it stands to reason I should be able to do so all things being equal. I bet they wouldnt be though.
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I know a guy who travels in exotic lingerie.
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Thu 15 Sep 11 at 18:48
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Is he known as "Brenda" at the weekends?
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He sells bridal wear too I believe. Quite a handy rugby player as it happens.
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They interviewed one on the local news. She claimed they had nowhere to go (the council claims to have offered to re-home them all), but then called herself a 'traveller'.
I predict it will all end in tears.
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I sincerely hope the local authority does not back down to the hand wringing brigade.. if everyone else has to comply with planning regs, then so can travellers...and i'm hoping this current Govt does not wimp out at the first shout of racism by these people abusing the system and doing the victim's of true racism an enormous disservice...(inc gypsies or travellers).
How many times have we seen 'p' takers in society hide behind a claim of some form of 'ism' to allow them to get away with whatever anti-social or illegal activity they selfishly wish to partake in...safe that most people won't dare challenge it for fear of being called 'ist'.
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Well surely it would be racist to treat them any different from anyone else. Equal opportunity to be evicted from illegal land development, seems fair to me.
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See that Vanessa Redgrave was getting in on the act. Wonder if she would be so supportive if they set up next to her house?
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As commented elsewhere she been very quiet on the slavery allegations eleswhere..
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What gets me is the gulf between the PR guff and the reality when it comes to Irish travellers.
For example, there was a piece on the news tonight about how the traveller community has aspirations for its young kids, and wants the new generation to be properly educated. Well, that's not the experience I've had of the ones that attend my daughter's school. Without exception they are unruly, aggressive, violent, disruptive, and the parents pull them out of school as soon as they are old enough to work, or breed. They don't contribute to, or participate in any school events or fundraisers, don't attempt to talk to anyone outside their community, and think nothing of swearing at their kids in front of teachers and other children.
This utter claptrap about them being peaceful, hard working, caring victims of a harsh society is such a blatant lie it, makes my blood boil. It does not stand up to a moment's observation in the real world. In my experience, they are aggressive, unfriendly, threatening, anti-social, and generally thoroughly unpleasant to be around. They take everything offered to them (busting another myth that they are a proud people), yet contribute as little as they can get away with in return.
Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 17 Sep 11 at 00:32
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Let 'em stay in Essex, otherwise half of them will end up in soft in the 'ead Northants, we've had problems with these types for donkeys years, sponging thieving and generally trashing anywhere they happen to pull up.
Did i misread somewhere that the UN were siding with the unhappy campers?...if that's right it's quite ironic really, as we the west have been using the UN rubber stamp in recent years as a mandate to change the power structure to suit ourselves in various middle eastern countries.
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The stray dog I hit in my old Focus belonged to 'travellers'.
What did the police do?
Order me to attend my local station to produce my driving documents.
Did they prosecute the traveller under the Dangerous Dogs Act for allowing a dog to run out of control?
Nope, the coppers are too frightened to arrest anyone from the travellers' site.
Had the roles been reversed, I bet I would have been nicked.
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>> Had the roles been reversed, I bet I would have been nicked.
Actually probably not, the ole bill rarely nick anyone under the dangerous dogs act for allowing their dog to be run over after it escaped.
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...Actually probably not...
If you think coppers don't go after easy targets, you are naive as well as argumentative.
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Ok provide me with a case where the old bill have nicked a normal householder whos dog escaped and got run over please.
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I've covered several cases over the years in which the dog has been out of control - running about without actually biting anyone.
The facts that I ran it over (didn't kill it) are irrelevant - it was allowed to run out of control by its owner.
Yet the only official action in the case is taken against the 'victim' - me - as in, show us your documents, and by implication, if they are not in order we will nick you for it.
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Ah i see. you cant.
You can take back the "naive as well as argumentative" tag then
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Now then boys, play nicely.
We've had enough spats on here to last a lifetime.
Sometimes it's like peeing into the wind.
Pat
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...Now then boys, play nicely...
Fine as far as it goes, but playing nastily is often more fun.
No worries about losing another member, I don't do flounces.
Although come to think of it, I'm not so sure about the other bloke.
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The problem for a Lancer driver is that theres always the risk of a knock on the window by someone wanting a ride to the station.
Makes for a less graceful flounce than most.
Taxi!
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...Makes for a less graceful flounce than most...
True, although inevitably each of us will one day make our last post on here.
Cue the bugler....
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Might it be sooner rather than later?
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>> Cue the bugler....
My dyslexia saw that without the L.
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...My dyslexia saw that without the L...
Good thing it didn't see it with two Gs, or we'd all be in trouble.
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>> The problem for a Lancer driver is that theres always the risk of a knock
>> on the window by someone wanting a ride to the station.
>>
>> Makes for a less graceful flounce than most.
>>
>> Taxi!
Yeah but its a fiver in the wallet tho init.
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My nephew worked at a McDonalds near to the site where the recently alleged 'slavery' took place. The site occupants would often visit said burger establishment, order food, then repeatedly change the order after the food had been commissioned. The intention was of course to confuse the staff and hopefully get cheap/free food.
A farmer I know has had repeated problems with travellers poaching his livestock, and in his experience the only way to deal with them is meet force with force (one night he caught a miscreant and locked him in a container with a bowl of water and a bucket for 24 hours). Problem solved.
It seems that, despite the impression given in some quarters of the press, only a very small minority of the population have sympathy with travellers. We treat as we find.
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...only a very small minority of the population have sympathy with travellers. We treat as we find...
Very true, and my general views are obvious.
But in the interests of balance: there is a long-established travellers' site on my reporting patch in County Durham.
I've heard very few complaints about its residents.
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Just my point iffy. In your para 3 you say travelers and in Para 4 residents - which are they?
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It matters not what they are called, its just a label.
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...Just my point iffy. In your para 3 you say travelers and in Para 4 residents - which are they?...
Irony intended.
The travellers' site to which I refer has been there for as long as I can remember.
My impression is most of the people who live there have been there for years, although some may come and go.
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That's clear iffy but the ambiguity continues! The only borderline travelers I see are those who go round the country with fun fairs and amusements, towing their homes with them.
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I dislike the blanket term travellers as there are quite a few different groups who fall under that general title.
I was in the bank the other day, two Irish travellers came in with a huge bundle of cash, £7k apparently ( they talk loud enough that everyone can hear, like it or not ).
The woman was standing behind me, all the while chatting away to the man she was with, but my god she stood close, no more than 3 inches from me and everytime I inches away from her, she followed. Needless to say I kept my hands firmily in pockets, valuables in hand. Worth noting that instead of using the carpark, they just bumped up the kerb on double yellow lines right outside the door.
On a unrelated note, knowing one of my dads uncles was a traveller, more the new-age type, we have been slowly working out his family history and it seems there was alot of marrying cousins. They were also often to be found with another family with the delightful surname of Scamp, the ancestors of which my father played with as a child.
Very different sort of people to the Dale Farm lot though, although my dad says his uncle was a unique character to say the least.
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>> This utter claptrap about them being peaceful, hard working, caring victims of a harsh society
>> is such a blatant lie it, makes my blood boil.
I agree with your post 100%.
What is sad though, on my part, is despite the fact I have plenty that I could add to support your post...i'm not willing to do so..perhaps when i'm retired.
Not forgetting though, that not all are like it, there will be some out there that are perfectly reasonable....it's just that the bad ones are in enough numbers to be more than a significant minority... similar principle to other aspects of our society... and the more we wring our hands collectively and back down, the more they'll carry on.
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Likewise WP it really hurts biting your tongue so hard.
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The above two posts from Westpig and Fullchat prove that just because policemen are obliged to act in a certain way, it doesn't mean they think in that way.
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True travellers are like the one who lives in Cornwall on various roundabouts.
He has a proper gypsy caravan and a bike with all the knife sharpening gear on it.
I've been seeing him now for as long as I've been lorry driving, every summer he's around Helston and Truro.
Dog, is he still around?
Pat
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Travellers travel - to places where they can thieve!
Every two months there is a trail, from Holyhead to Newark, of thefts carried out by "travellers" as they journey to the big Antiques & Collectibles fair at Newark show-ground.
(Related to us by a police officer on duty at this fair)
Once there, the men steal anything they can from the marquees & the outside stands and the women & children plague the inside stall holders, lifting cash and easily swiped objects.
A frisson of worry ripples round the buildings when these parasites are spotted entering and all stall-holders go into "high alert" mode.
Despite this, a neighbour of our once had her entire takings lifted, probably by a child, from her bag concealed under the stand.
We lost around £500 of good stuff, ourselves, at one fair. We made it our last one there!
Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 17 Sep 11 at 00:26
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Possibly to America to learn spelling.
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Do "Travelers" Travel? - R.P.
