Re: Villagers fight back
 

Thing is, IF pitches are in sensible places it gives the police and neighbourhoods more power to move them on. Ignoring things and doing nothing just causes more aggravation and expense. Surely it is better to have them paying their way like the rest of society. Privately run sites tend to stick to the clan & satellite families. Council run sites take all & sundry with waiting times far in excess of those on the housing list due to the extreme shortage of pitches nationally.

Re: Villagers fight back
 

do they really ?

Re: Villagers fight back
 

I can only go by those families of travellers we have locally.

The reason councils have more power to evict if they have pitches available it the judge can clearly see there is a suitable place for them to go to. The eviction will be granted quickly as the travellers have lost the excuse of no where else to go.

Re: Villagers fight back
 

Look generalisations aren't fair and you know that.Some travellers really are decent people who pay their way.Some are not but there is no need to claim that all are the latter.

It's like saying all old people are senile or that all teenagers are thugs or all unemployed are workshy or that all Scottish people are tight with money.It's a sweeping generalisation to say any of those thing..

Re: Villagers fight back
 

i was commenting on the "paying their way like the rest of society" you made

if they pay income tax ,national insurance ,council tax and all the other basic living expenses that i and the majority of people pay then i am happy for the LA's to build sites for them if not then they can go sing

Re: Villagers fight back
 

In SE London the police call them 'Doers' short for 'Do as you likeys'...... Pikeys.....:dozey:

Re: Villagers fight back
 

At the rate things are going we'll all be living like travellers in the next few decades. The only difference will be that they travel in caravans whereas we'll be moving house constantly to be around any available jobs.

Then everyone will be strangers to everyone else and the only consistent community we'll have are things like this ... internet forums and social networking.

I have a feeling that mental health and probation will be a good career choice in the future.

Re: Villagers fight back
 

This is what does happen when sites are built & run by the council (often why council run sites are more popular & have long waiting lists).

The local schools also benefit by having traveller children who in turn get an education. Opportunities they wouldn't get if they are constantly moved on. At least the traveller families are UK citizens who go round the country harvesting, rather than having to import staff to pick fruit & veg.

Re: Villagers fight back
 

Im guessing some of the posters in here didnt actually read the story. They just saw travelers and started ranting. In this case just like in the VAST majority of cases the travelers actually do OWN the land in question they didnt "steel" the land from anyone they brought it a few months earlier. They also dont steel services like what was suggested earlier. generally when they take these sites on the first thing they do is install the piping for the services upto the property boundy then contact the services providers to install. MOST travelers DO indeed pay tax (both council and income). In this case the ONLY offense committed it changing the use of a property without appropriate planning permission (Though they have applied for the permission they started the work before securing said permission, something which they unlikely to get because the NIMBY's would never allow it).

What most people dont seem to understand is the difference between a "traveler" and a "pikey". The former tends to move between fixed pitches (where available and only occasionally set up on unused land (when theres no space available)).

BTW im not a traveler but i do know a couple who have lived in the site just up the road from me for the last 2 years.

Re: Villagers fight back
 

Steel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade.

oh and they nick that as well .

Re: Villagers fight back
 

Thing that goads me is presumably, the sites that they live on, around here anyway, have skips etc left and emptied at regular intervals, a service that I pay a thing called council tax for, yet they get it for free.
If I did not pay my council tax with the excuse that the travellers do not pay why should I ? the court would still issue a liablility order.
Is there something not right ?

Re: Villagers fight back
 

You've got to admire their determination.

Re: Villagers fight back
 

I think most people are upset because this is a fairly regular pattern of behaviour. Secure a plot of land, tee up loads of building supplies, drop in a planning application at the last minute on a Friday bank holiday weekend then start the work knowing full well once its started it'll be a hellish job for the council to evict them or get the work reversed.

Re: Villagers fight back
 

Around here the council sold the site because they failed to control it. They built them a nice shower and toilet block, and in turn many connected up their cables to obtain free electric.

Before the sale, it was rumoured that every pitch had rent in long term arrears. The question was asked of the Labour council by an independent councillor, but the council refused to separate the figures from the rest of the arrears figures. The result was that the level of rent arrears owed by the dwellers was hidden from the local council tax payer.

My father did some driving for a local company who had a contract with the local tax inspectors office. On more than one occasion he was asked by the inspector to be taken to an address, when he explained that it was the local travellers site the inspectors would cross that one off the list.

The fact that in Cardiff the Police used to give the ones on Rover Way at least 24 hours notice if they had a warrant to search the site says it all.

Re: Villagers fight back
 

They obviously have big wheelbarrows..