Travellers tales

Very succinct Jane10

But apparently they do!

Gabriella You say "another minority "untouchable" group". What other minority groups do you claim are "untouchable"? Do you hae a list, or perhaps you're not prepared to divulge it?

You also refer to "a curse and blight on the face of the earth" . That sort of language is very reminiscent of the language used to whip up hatred of various groups of people throughout history and to justify their ill treatment, incarceration or worse.

I thought extortion, threatening behaviour and fly tipping were crimes and, as such, should be dealt with by the relevant authorities. Of course the "political correctness gone mad" pronouncement is often made in cases of this nature but it seems to me that many people are far from "politically correct" and feel quite free to call all travellers "pikeys" "gypos", etc, etc.

If there is strong pictorial and other evidence of people commiting extortion, threatening violence and commiting environmental crimes, etc, etc, then the legal authorities should have no problem in justifying a prosecution and countering a claim of discrimination.

If someone has committed a crime they should be arrested and brought to justice. That is clear.

Setting a high price for property you want to sell is not a crime.

But what about the extortion mentioned in the OP?

I don't understand why those that carry out the clearly criminal acts can't be dealt with as any of us would be?

They are dealt with - visit any prion and there you will find many Travellers. There is strong evidence that Travellers are more likely than gorjas to get custodial sentences for wrong-doing - presumably because the authorities are concerned that they might not have a settled address from which to attend probation or whatever.

I don't understand why those that carry out the clearly criminal acts can't be dealt with as any of us would be? Surely this is the political correctness that led to the inertia around all those girls being abused in Rotherham and other towns. There are rogue elements in every minority. They can't be excused just because others of their minority behave in a civilised way. Fine. There are nice enough travellers but there are clearly very very unpleasant ones.

There was a permanent Travellers camp near where we had our first house. For the most part they were ordinary, decent people. Their children went to the local school when they weren't off travelling with their parents. My son counted one of the little boys as his friend. His mother couldn't read it write but she was the nicest of women. It is only a minority of the Traveller community that cause trouble and leave mess.

Caledonail4
I think I made that point clear. I, as I'm sure we all do, know the difference.

Years ago, when visiting friends in Cockerham and walking to a local pub one New Years Eve, we saw two roly poly caravans and two piebald horses tethered in a clearing. There was a huge brazier fire and three people sitting around it.
I called to ask if we could talk to them and they agreed. It was dark, they offered us beer and spoke with a heavy dialect. We were shown the caravans which were decorated like some narrow boats with wonderful painting, ornate carving and velvet and lace curtains. There was also a huge car and modern caravan which we hadn't seen from the road.
The one lady kept touching one of the men and telling me 'this is my man' and sitting on his knee. They looked in their late 40s, weathered and dressed like true Romany gypsies as depicted in old books.
We left but the land being rather boggy, the two men gave us piggybacks back to the road.
A night I'll never forget. We got home at 6am.

I'd like to support the point made by Luckygirl that you can't blame a whole community or ethnic group for the misdeeds of some.

I fully agree with the points made about the heartbreak and unfairness of any group of people showing up and camping in unauthorised spots, then leaving a mess. It happens here too.

But we also have large groups of travelling people connected with various shows, fairs, festivals and Highland Games over the summer. These people are regulars and depend upon local goodwill and - to my knowledge - behave and camp appropriately. They all pay taxes and wages like anybody else. Many of them have winter bases which are permanent and they tend to leave their temporary sites clean and undamaged (though sometimes an event's insurance will include tidying by the organisers and local people are paid to do this).

There are many different identifiable kinds of travellers, but only two have specific "ethnic origin" protection under Equality legislation, Romany gypsies and Irish travellers, who have traditionally been persecuted and unfairly treated by a wide variety of populations going back many years.

I really do understand how annoying and frightening it can be when seemingly-closed groups of people seem to flout the normal rules of civilised behaviour, but you can't just lump whole loose ethnic groups in for criticism. If we did that for people of any one religious persuasion - or everyone from a particular continent - it would be illegal.

Sorry
kne trued to escspe
one tried to escape

It’s frightening to think about people who would bully others in that way.

maned manned

One 'family' whose name I know but won't mention, used to frequently wait outside the Sally Army in Swindon to recruit the homeless and addicts to drive cars and steal caravans from the surrounding area and to work for a well known travelling circus company. Two men, whom I met on separate occasions at Crisis, related the same story of being locked in an old caravan at night with minimal food, no washing facilities and a bucket. During the day they set up and dismantled fairground equipment and maned some of the rides (under supervision) however kne trued to escspe by hiding his meagre possessions including personal ID docs which were later found burned.
He was later found to have whip marks on his legs and no means of proving who he was.
That same circus will have been in your area.

I wish we had a more robust system to deal with them. The few spoil it for the many. The story you relate GabriellaG54 is extortion surely ‘with menace’? I feel for the poor sods who are crowdfunding.

No wonder the huge traveller family could afford flights and a holiday to NZ. These people have no shame.

There are definitely different “travellers” - the Irish travellers who own properties in Ireland and travel around England making their money and pitching up wherever and Romany gypsies who have quite different traditions. I appreciate that there are different cultures but I’m not sure why athose who have their roots in Ireland don’t choose to live there.

There are certainly a lot of badly behaved and criminal activities going on from travellers, my policeman SIL has plenty of stories to tell.There are sites that are virtually no go areas and even police have to be careful, and many instances of ‘slave’ owning in those same sites, where lonely and vulnerable men are housed in squalor and made to work all hours at drive cleaning, laying patios etc for next to nothing, and often very bullied.
Just one or two of these extensive ‘families’ are often the cause of crime waves in local areas.
These people do give travellers a bad name, but there is enough evidence of it, crime, mess and aggresive tactics to name just some of it.

travellers traveller's eye-popping...etc.

I mentioned a family not the whole of the travelling community, nor did I name the family but the name is out there for all to see.
I have met travellers who appear ok but sleep in their cars rather than shell out for an hotel, wear Armani and Gucci and other premium brands of apparel and carry thousands of pounds in cash on their person.
On the other hand I have seen travellers eye-popping christening celebrations with cribs and prams hired from Harrods for the day and delivered to the venue, marque cars including Rolls, top spec Mercs, bimmers and Audis, Jags and Lambos and more, lining the street outside, most with private plates. Yet those same people defecated in the flower beds, bushes and the folly in the gardens and left bedclothes in an overflowing bath, beer emptied over soft furnishings in public rooms and food ground into the banqueting room and bedroom carpets.
It's hard to distinguish the good from the questionable.
BTW, people with a stable job such as teachers can't, IMO, really be described as travellers, as was mentioned by another poster.

I suppose it's more that some of these people cause a massive amount of stress to others in a way that other visible minorities don't. The OP was highlighting some pretty appalling activities which this particular group seem to get away with. These are actual crimes yet they seem immune to prosecution. Why?

I met good Travellers and bad - some I was happy to call friends and some I would never wish to see again. I admired many of their traditions and abhorred some others.

I am saying that they are much like the rest of humanity - good and bad - and it is wrong to condemn the whole mass of them for the actions of the few.

Visible minorities (like black people) are at risk of this blanket condemnation - or were......I thought we had got past this now.

It must be unbearable living near these unscrupulous groups who give other travellers a bad name. It's amazing that they can somehow bypass the law. Fancy blackmailing local communities like that!
Whatever happened to Boris's water cannons. They might clean up the sites...

You do have the ones who abide by the rules, then you have the Romanian ones----------