Thread: Traveller problem

We live near a small common, owned by the Parish council. About 6 weeks ago some travellers turned up and parked their three caravans on the common. They were no problem as such, until last week when some new faces turned up and the trouble began. Loud music at all hours, human waste put into wheelie bins, a holiday cottage broken into and things stolen and worst of all my friend had stones thown at her, while she was riding her horse, which caused it to bolt. The police have been notified but do nothing. The council do nothing. What can we do? Our quiet lives have been disturbed and we are all worried sick. Lou.

Travellers seem to be a law unto themselves.
You could ask the Council if they have a policy in place concerning the unauthorised encampments of Gypsys/ Travellers. Any decent council should have one. Might have to go to County Council. Failing that contact local MP. Make them earn their wages for once!!!

I now have some names to go with faces. More complaints have been made to the police, who seem to be on the side of the Travellers! Great! Glastonbury type gathering going on this weekend. Loud music and picnic now going on.

Have looked at a few council websites, but Gypsies have protection under the Human Rights Act 1998 and Race Relations Act 1976 even when tresspassing
If you have a look at www. Fareham.gov.uk
and go to gypsies,travellers and the law it tells you how they can seem to do what they like

The Liberty website explains further, something to do with Section 8 ECHR
It appears that you could be in for a long battle.
Good Luck

Thanks everyone. Crime now spread into the next village, so I should be able to get more campaigners on side.

Waveney Council have at last promised some action. They will be moved on, hopefully in my life time!

Yes Gyzmo, of course we should ALL regard the law. Sadly plenty of us choose not to - gypsies and us lot! I'm sure if in the future we had martians living amongst us, a proportion of those would break the law as well. That's if they were stupid enough to want to stay with us lot.

However, I strongly believe that we should also ALL pay regard to everybody's needs, religion, whatever they believe in, because otherwise how can we all get along together?

This problem with travellers will never be resolved whilst we have this current attitude - which works both ways - they view us with suspicion and then close ranks - but we do as well by not attempting to get a basic understanding of their needs. Then it all goes belly up and we get all these problems - on both sides. EVERYBODY needs to step back and try and listen to each other instead of shouting and yelling about "gypsies".

When you have seen (and thank god only once) what us "normal" ones are capable of doing to an entire gypsy camp overnight, where there were both children and elderly within the camp, just because it wasn't wanted, it tends to make you see things differently. I'm not going into too many distressing details here, this happened years ago, and knocked my faith in humans generally, except to say I find it totally unacceptable for both a heavily pregnant woman, and an old man, to be beaten senseless with a baseball bat in front of small children. And a toddler literally picked up by her ankle and thrown bodily through a caravan door onto the glass covered dirt? Her crime was dreadful of course, whilst the thugs were beating in the windows to her caravan, she had the bare faced cheek to wake up and scream in terror, alerting alerting them to the fact she was there at all. Several caravans were torched that night, thank goodness they didn't burn this one before she woke up. Then to defecate and urinate all over what was left of the site, when one of the oldest Romany beliefs is that bodily fluids are "unclean"? I shall never, ever forget this horror, and this was on a local authority gypsy site, not known for particular problems. And I guarantee you that child never got over that, and if one day she acts in a way us normal people disapprove of, I for one can't blame her. Nor her mother, or her elderly grandfather.

Travellers aren't going anywhere - they are now protected by law so we have to accept this. But the travellers also have to learn about what we require too, and why we tend to complain whenever they are around. Works both ways, and if the site team want to restore the e-mail addresses I put on here, everyone can learn a little bit more.

In the meantime anyone could google South Western Alliance of Nomads. Rev Redding would be more than happy to point you to a contact in other parts of the country.

I don't want to start a racism row, but perhaps when I shout at my incredibly racist father, that if he must abuse the Asian family over the road, he really ought not to show his ignorance and try to get their country of origin right at the very least, there is something in that. You know what I mean.

Lets just all try and get on - wouldn't it be boring if we were all clones?

You can show me all the shock horror newspaper articles you like, and I expect I can dig out something totally unrelated, but equally shock horror, to match it, crimes perpetrated by all members of our society and not just one part of it.

There, rant over and I feel better! Sorry Gyzmo, not digging at you at all, just something I feel very strongly about, having been one of us "normal" members of society seeing what us "normal" people are capable of inflicting on others.

Thanks all for your points raised. Can I just point out that the people concerned in causing my problem are not from the travelling community proper. These guys are hippy types, dreadlocks and body piercing. Every weekend we seem to have a rave going on with stoned people wandering around, nicking stuff. We are being driven mad and started off in a live and let live state of mind but it was one way traffic only. Not fair. We have never considered beating them up but we would just like some peace and quiet again and to keep our possesions. We can not all go through life doing exactly as we want and sod everyone else.

Sorry to hear that you are still suffering. Have you checked their vehicles are taxed? Might be one way of getting back at them, thats if police are interested

Have a look at the web site I mentioned in my post, the Alliance of Nomads, (because that is what these people are) and contact them to take some advice. They can mediate. This, other than outright bloody violence on all parts, is the only thing that will start resolving these problems.

Your problem doesn't sound like true gypsies at all, true Romanies are very clean both in habit and appearance. Nevertheless these people who bother you are living a Nomadic lifestyle and are therefore protected by law. So are you. If you played loud music til the early hours of the morning, you'd get done for it, so it follows that so can they, and that is the way it should be.

I hope you can get some assistance from the web site I mentioned. Despite defending travellers, and I think part of that strength of feeling on the matter is because of what I was forced to witness years ago, I also fully understand the problems they can either bring with them OR attract.

Nomadic people want a peaceful life and to be free to live their life as they wish - well, so do most of us, but we all have to abide by the law.

Please also think, social problems aside, just for a minute: there you are, lived in "brick" as per the norm all your life. All of a sudden you have to go and live on the road. How frightening is that? Reverse it, there you are, led a nomadic/free life from birth, don't know any different, your site is destroyed or shut down and you are forced into "brick" - equally as frightening, because it is totally alien to you and even before you arrive at the house your neighbours are dead set against you because their perception of "your type" precedes you.

I do hope you can get this sorted, it does sound as if your village deserves a break!

And just to cheer up the thread! When I was a little girl, just finishing infant school, but in those days it was quite acceptable to get yourself to and from school unaccompanied, a particular area of our town was a no go area as it was a huge gypsy encampment. Us kids were told the gypsies would take us away! Actually, I doubt it, our parents just didn't want us going missing in this quite isolated area.

Anyway, I had to get a particular bus home, No 5, and if you made a mistake and got on the 5A instead, well you were done for as it went as far as the encampment. Well, one day I made that mistake! I was terrified as the bus went the wrong way taking me nearer to the gypsies, I got into such a state I couldn't even tell the conductor I was on the wrong bus! I think I must have been 7? I think I probably wet myself as well! I got off the bus, and sat at the roadside and howled! And, who found me and walked me all the way home? And laughed at me when I told them I thought I was going to be stolen away by them! An old gypsy lady and her daughter! They were ever so nice to me! And my mother felt duty bound to buy the lucky heather.

Shame we can't turn the clock back really.

Just to let everyone know that they have moved on!!!!!! Not sure why or how. I think they just became bored and went of their own accord.I am sure the council will claim the victory but who cares. Our peace has been returned. We are all very relieved. I hope they are not headed your way!!!!!

Originally Posted by angryofbeccles

We live near a small common, owned by the Parish council. About 6 weeks ago some travellers turned up and parked their three caravans on the common. They were no problem as such, until last week when some new faces turned up and the trouble began. Loud music at all hours, human waste put into wheelie bins, a holiday cottage broken into and things stolen and worst of all my friend had stones thown at her, while she was riding her horse, which caused it to bolt. The police have been notified but do nothing. The council do nothing. What can we do? Our quiet lives have been disturbed and we are all worried sick. Lou.

I bet not of you know that Romany Gypsies also don't want the Irish travellers in their towns, I bet you also didn't know that most of us "real Gypsies" actually oppose Irish Traveller sites too!
Gypsies do comiserate with you, Irish Travellers treat us 100 times worser than the settled community. Irish Travellers also give us a bad name.
Did any of you know that?