Vocal Voices

A bunch of travellers / Gypsies has invaded a local car park and so people are asking what can be done to get them moved on. The answer: not very much. Even though the law is being broken the council and police will not get involved until or unless the landowner (YMCA) gets a Court Order. If that Court Order is ignored the landowner can then (try to) employ bailiffs to have the miscreants removed. If that does not work.....? It is almost as though the landowner is to blame!

The police will only get involved as a last resort - if there is "trouble".

Those of us who pay our taxes, pay the police precept and abide by the rules get no protection. Those who do not give a stuff and constantly break the law get off scot-free. What a way to run a country!

I feel for you WM. It's as though the authorities - police, council, whoever - have always got an excuse to avoid doing anything.

Happen a here all the time usually in the school fields near our co-op
Then they are in the co-op all day in there dressing gown
Till they decide the site nobody does a thing about it because they have e there rights

We have a huge issues with a group down here, they move from one place to another and leave behind the biggest mess ever. Thing is, in your situation Frank, the land they are on is private property (owned by tye YMCA) so the police actually do not have any power.

If they settle on council owned land then it's a different matter as councils have more powers to move people on; but private land owners have to go via the legal route and obtain court orders. And they know this so usually try chose private land.

We had them on our rec a few years back and the clean up cost afterwards was ridiculous - not just regular waste, but bio hazard in the form of human waste in the shrubs.

It makes my blood boil as well and to this day I do not know just why the laws haven't toughened up on them. Human rights, my a*rse..... if they can't respect our rights then why should we respect theirs?

WM wrote:The police will only get involved as a last resort - if there is "trouble".

One group of travellers tried it once too often when we were living in Sutton Coldfield. Faced with police / council inaction, a local residents group took matters into their own hands ..... the Police had to sort it out before the situation really got out of control ....

And yes, the biggest problem by far is the mess they always leave behind.

It's the mess that gets to me, no excuse for it