Travellers taking over recreation ground

No it’s horrible and such people shouldn’t be allowed to live outside the law. They give all travelling folk a bad name. I’m not sure if it’s correct, but I have heard that in Ireland they’ve changed some laws re travellers, so many more of them are coming here. Apologies if that’s not correct I haven’t got time to check. Perhaps someone could enlighten me.

I did hear they were Irish travellers, I'm not concerned with their nationality just how they behave. I believe it cost nearly £30,00 to evict them and clear up the mess they left in Cobham, covered by the local council tax that's collected I presume when that money could have been spent on something that is needed. I'd like to know why they aren't forced to clear up their own mess, why should other people do it for them.

Sadly this is not new.
We had a caravan in N Wales and the travellers would get off the ferry at Holyhead and stop wherever they fancied,.
Several times they took over the car park near to us which served the small beach and a couple of cafes and beach shops.
The public toilets were unusable to the general public and they attached hoses to the taps for their own water supply.
The mess they left behind was indescribable and the few traders lost a lot of business and money while they were there.
It took several days to evict them each time.
I understand some took over an Asda car park somewhere this week.

We get them round and about frequently, recently they’ve stayed one or two days then disappeared I didn’t notice much mess though . I’m sure if they cleared up after themselves and didn’t overstay their welcome people would be more likely to put up with them.

Yes that was my point tanith.

Last month in Milton Keynes travellers took over a school recreation ground so the school sports day had to be cancelled. Makes me so cross.

Makes me cross too. These are not real Gypsies/travellers who always travelled like this. These are people who don't want to work who just like to move around from one place to another and take advantage.

Last summer a group of travellers broke the padlocks off the gates of a local community area and set up camp. The community area backs onto a school and it's playing fields. One lunch time, the travellers let their dogs free; they bounded through the hedges and set about chasing the children who were playing on the school playing fields. Several children were bitten by the time before they were all herded back in doors to safety. The police were called but no action was taken because the travellers denied that the dogs actually belonged to them. The children were unable to play out at any play time until the travellers were moved on, taking the dogs that didn't belong to them with them. The rubbish and mess that was left behind was unbelievable.

I think it is accepted that not everyone wants to live a conventional lifestyle, however, because some travellers choose to steal, intimidate and generally abuse the land they decide to camp on, most people resent their presence. Many local authorities provide sites for travellers to use but they choose not to because they have to pay to stay there.

I live in Surrey, not far from Cobham, the whole area has been inundated with travellers. Back in June they parked up on the lye in our village , fortunately the council were able to evict them, and they were off within 36 hours. The disgusting mess that they leave has cost us, the council tax payers thousands of pounds. Many towns and villages in Surrey are having the same problem, why they have chosen our county , I don't know .

we had a few caravans near us recently,they didn't leave a mess and are always friendly and speak when they pass ,I dont have any problem with them being here and I know most of us in our street feel the same.There is one man who called them "vermin", that wasn't well received by them or his neighbours .Live and let live is my motto ,we cant all be the same indeed we wouldn't all want to be the same .

You were fortunate then paddyann I think you would feel differently if you lived in Cobham or Thames Ditton.

Oh yes live and let live, do those infinite magnanimous qualities extend to piles of human shit being deposited over one's fence I'm wondering

They haven't just chosen your county Joelise, they are everywhere. We are plagued with them where I live in Devon. They cause mayhem everywhere around here, leaving untold filth behind them wherever they choose to park up. I've never really understood how they're allowed to get away with it. Intimidation I guess - everyone, police included, are just scared of them.
A couple of weeks ago some travellers invaded the local cricket pitch, a fenced off area within some playing fields. A couple of local councillors approached them - I've no idea what was said, but miraculously the travellers moved on, leaving no mess whatever. Hitherto unheard of! I can only imagine these were not the usual trouble makers, but a bunch of decent travellers.

Live and let live

I wonder if paddyann's magnanimity would still be intact if it was her children or grandchildren who'd been bitten by traveller's dogs?

A farmer I know had travellers pitch up on his land a while back so he decided to go and have a chat with them. He dropped into the conversation that they might want to keep an eye on the kids & dogs as he'd recently treated the fields with pesticide. The travellers were gone by next morning.

Live and let live is all very well, but it only works if both sides keep their part of the bargain, which doesn't seem to be happening in these latest reported cases.

I believe gypsies (romany) are very clean and tidy. Some travellers are a different matter and unfortunately give others a bad name.

I suppose anytime soon the one who loves to play devil's advocate will post something along the lines of "didn't you ever have a crafty crap and chuck it over your neighbour's fence?.... er. no cos it was kind of hard wired into oneself that this wasn't a way to ingratiate oneself to one's fellow man/woman. To which the response would probably be "Live and let live"

I worked with Travellers a lot in my career. I have to say that the majority I met were decent, honest, hard-working, tax-paying individuals with a very strong sense of family, and often very religious.

They are as sickened as we are by the behaviour of these travellers who have been described above. Incidentally, this is often the reason why council sites are not popular, as very diverse groups of travellers are lumped together, and it does not work.

There are many of their traditions that I disagree with, notably the emphasis on macho behaviour for boys - baby boys often have gold boxing gloves on a chain round their necks; also the role of women - but paradoxically, although women are tied to the trailer and child-rearing, they are often the most powerful in the community.

I admire many things too - particularly their family loyalty.

The groups of travellers who behave badly are the ones who come to our attention. Their behaviour is totally unacceptable. But there are others travellers.

The ones being discussed here are the crooks who have no intention of abiding to social convention. A month ago some pitched up in the local Lidl car park. Discarded tyres, wild kids running amok and and barging around the store to boot. Presumably the local police were too overstretched to wade in.

As far as I can see paddy is tolerant because she hasn't had any problems.
I can understand why folk object if they are directly affected but it isn't reasonable to criticise someone for not having problems in her community where she and her neighbours are happy to 'live and let live'!

Well said Luckygirl,just like the rest of us there are different travellers .
I'm so sorry that I cant join your merry little band of complainers .There seems to be a lot of you about...but if I've nothing to complain about then thats how it is .What have you complained about recently ..kids screaming in their gardens ,kids playing out too early or on trampolines ,travellers,teenagers being well teenagers ,Dil's now there are a lot of complaints about them ...have I missed anything? I'm sure someone will put me right .

oh Neighbours ...and loud music ..any more ?

Noone is saying all travellers behave badly but there are some who give them all a bad name. Yes plenty of NIMBYs on here, moaning about all sorts of minor things, but criminal behaviour is worth complaining about surely - and is it wrong to say everyone should live within the law? I’m all for live and let live but I don’t think we should put up with extreme anti social behaviour in our neighbourhood - destroying school fields, thefts and burglary, cruelty to animals etc, We shouldn’t be afraid to complain.