Travellers

[notb665]

I would like to know if anyone has had any experiences of the travelling community, good or bad?

They are much maligned, but they can't be all bad, can they? They can't all be soap-dodging, long-haired, workshy, thieving hedgehog eaters surely?

 

[Freddie]

I have had experiences of them all bad, same as everybody else here really.

 

[AdamW]

There are actually a few types of travellers.

I have experiences of two types.

1) Scum
2) Carnies

Type 1 used to break into the rubbish dump I worked at and steal clothes out of the charity bins, then throw everything about so we would have to spend ages tidying up the tip every morning. They would hassle the local shop keepers and start fights... never fair of course, generally 10 of them against 3 or 4 16 year olds, or similar. They left rubbish wherever they went, and on one occasion their refusal to move off the fairground meant the fare had to be cancelled.

Type 2 really aren't so bad. In Addlestone (Surrey), there are a lot of fairground travellers (carnies) who have settled. My dad worked with some of them and reckoned they were rough but honest. Rough, in that they were a very tight community who would deal with things their own way, but honest in that they wouldn't stand for their own people stealing and whatnot, and were generally good parents who would push their children hard in their studies. Not short of a few quid either Nice people provided you didn't cross them, basically.

They hated Type 1 to the extent they would sooner hit one than talk to him, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it

Of course, neither would have been paying for all the taxes they owed or following all the rules, so I don't actually LIKE either. But I can abide the Carnies.

 

[Careful_Bodger]

Do they (whatever sub-group) pay council taxes?

Is this perhaps part of the 'attraction' of being a traveller, or is this unfair?

 

[Steve]

I only have limited experience of them. They used to be regulars at a shop i used to work at, we knew them all, and most of them would pay for their goods, with a bit of banter, trying to get things on the cheap, but they were honest and understood we cant do deals - the price comes up on the till and thats that! A few of them would go to the back of the shop and try to nick stuff.

But most were honest people who we, on the whole, didnt mind serving, apart from when they came to the till shouting down their phone, or shouting at their mate at the back of the shop (they are rather loud and inconsiderate at times!)

 

[Thermo]

unfortunatley i never genuinley met a decent or honest one. But maybe that was because of the line of work i was in. Im not saying they all are, im just saying that those i came across were all of the sterotype. One thing that really ****ed me off was they would descend on an area and it would be like armageddon after they left, even down to human crap everywhere. God would they lie in an effort to avoid prison as well, they absolutley hate being locked up.

 

[notb665]

I would like to go and live with them for say, a month - just to see what it is like.

I too have experienced some despicable behaviour from them, but surely they are just a stereotype - or do stereotypes exist for a reason?

 

[Freddie]

I would like to go and live with them for say, a month - just to see what it is like.

I too have experienced some despicable behaviour from them, but surely they are just a stereotype - or do stereotypes exist for a reason?

I was actually talking of something similar recently and one thing cropped up was--how can any kids have any respect when they are in the same room as their parents watching them humping away--6-7-8-9-10 kids and parents all in the same caravan--no washing facilities other than a bowl of water--what kind of people bring kids up like that and how can you expect the kids to be any different???

 

[confidentincompetent]

When spring arrives round here so do the travellers. They take over the pay and display car parks on our local cliff top and near to town centre. While all the 'human rights' crap is set in motion they are supplied with skips and social security visit every week to pay their benefits etc. The way they park so arrogantly, their top of range jeep. range rover's slewed across three bays does'nt make me love em. The best tho is when they land at our civic offices and camp on the mayor's and councillors reserved spaces. The worst was when a pregnant lady whent into pay her council tax and was five minutes late on return and found warden issuing her with a ticket. Yeah she was parked next to an untaxed unticketed 4x4, she asked why the 4x4 was'nt being done the wardens reply was we have instructions not to ticket them it will only cause trouble Still while its cold down here they seem to go back to their luxury houses. Cany understand why they can't be followed back to their permanent homes so then they could be persecuted like any normal taxpayer.
Rant over for now

 

[Softus]

Travellers are hard working, law-abiding, honest, generous, considerate, and compassionate human beings. None of them has ever broken into my shed and stolen a trolley jack and several gallons of engine oil. I would trust any of them with my childrens' lives. Oh, and their personal hygiene is beyond reproach.

 

[confidentincompetent]

Travellers are hard working, law-abiding, honest, generous, considerate, and compassionate human beings. None of them has ever broken into my shed and stolen a trolley jack and several gallons of engine oil. I would trust any of them with my childrens' lives. Oh, and their personal hygiene is beyond reproach.

 

[kendor]

It makes me smile how people judge others by their own standards yet i bet they have never done anything dishonest in their lives
the thing is, it's judging all by the actions of some.
There is also the human nature aspect that comes into it, in that if you are always being accused of something you hadn't done then you eventually think what the hell i'm being accused of it so i might aswell.

 

[Softus]

It makes me smile how people judge others by their own standards yet i bet they have never done anything dishonest in their lives
the thing is, it's judging all by the actions of some.
There is also the human nature aspect that comes into it, in that if you are always being accused of something you hadn't done then you eventually think what the hell i'm being accused of it so i might aswell.

Yours is a tediously naive point of view kendor.

You've fallen into the trap of being smugly unaware of the fine line between generalising about a group of people (a path that ends in the R word), and simply being "once bitten twice shy", which is also human nature.

 

[Richardp]

I would like to know if anyone has had any experiences of the travelling community, good or bad?

They are much maligned, but they can't be all bad, can they? They can't all be soap-dodging, long-haired, workshy, thieving hedgehog eaters surely?

I suspect you already knew what reaction this thread would get
I've worked with travellers 30 years ago and don't recognise any of the descriptions here, those were dignified people I suspect they were rogues their caravans were spotless, the kids happy and healthy but they have a total mistrust of outsiders and I can understand why, there is a total misunderstanding of them here, ok it was a long time ago but i can only take them as I find them and I know how intolerant some are here.
now I'm going to put my head down

 

[Freddie]

I would like to know if anyone has had any experiences of the travelling community, good or bad?

They are much maligned, but they can't be all bad, can they? They can't all be soap-dodging, long-haired, workshy, thieving hedgehog eaters surely?

I suspect you already knew what reaction this thread would get
I've worked with travellers 30 years ago and don't recognise any of the descriptions here, those were dignified people I suspect they were rogues their caravans were spotless, the kids happy and healthy but they have a total mistrust of outsiders and I can understand why, there is a total misunderstanding of them here, ok it was a long time ago but i can only take them as I find them and I know how intolerant some are here.
now I'm going to put my head down

Times change Richard, i can remember them in the 60's when they came round selling pegs and buckets that they made, also catching stuff out of the local streams and rivers to eat. I remember nearly everbody bought stuff off them in them days ---not now and it's their fault not ours.