A massive moan...

Well firstly I have had some Gypsies (or travellers to be politically correct) knock my door and offer to take some rubbish away for a fee. I let rip, not so long ago they parked up on land where i walked Zuki and when I proceeded to walk through where they camped I was told I shouldn't cause they didn't want my dog to be attacked by theirs, well i told them that Zuki can look after herself and if neccessary I would defend her with my own life and that their dogs did not stand a chance. I walked through and was greeted by 10 little dogs, each no bigger than a cat, they came said hello, fine. I carried on and saw a large tipper lorry thing dumping waste, I was fuming stood there in front of them called the police and gave the registration details, then videoed them dumping the stuff on my phone, of course they gave me the verbals but wouldn't come near i am assuming it was because of Zuki. Then a man with two Rotties joined the argument and we had a right go. I took my phone to the police where they copied the data and two days later the campers were gone, shamefully though they only went down the bloody road!

When they came to my door this morning their truck was already half full of someone elses rubbish, when will people learn that in the long run we end up paying for it on our council tax bill? They may have only charged you £20 to move some junk, but then when the council moves it they lump it on to next years council tax and so in the long run it hasn't cost you much maybe, but it is costing all the poor souls of this country more and most of the country disposes of their rubbish legally. I no longer walk my dog in that area because a child was cut by sharp metal left by the travellers.

Hampshire county council is one of the worst in the country for dealing with things like this, I almost took politics at Uni just so I could do something about things like this, but I realised who is gonna listen to us anyway? The government? No they are happy as long as they are stealing our money, why change the law when someone is paying for the mess left by others? The only way to stop travellers from dumping is to stop giving them things to dump.

Another thing how do they get away with not paying council tax? They park their homes on council property, they dump their rubbish on our land and I am in no doubt that if an army of people attacked them armed with god knows what they would use our police service and if people set fire to their homes they would use our fire service. All things they have no right to because they are not paying for it WE ARE!

Sorry to moan, what is your view point on this? Do you disagree please I like to hear everyones stance

I think that people should have a right to live the way they want to...as long as it is legal, and not hurting anyone else. BUT this way of life as you've described it does impinge on others and because of this there is a need for these travellers to conform to the rules of the society in which they live. As you rightly identified it does impact on the local community in many ways, just one of which is financially. I would point out that IMO this is true of anyone living within a local community whatever their colour or creed, and conversley there is a need for a certain amount of tolerance and understandiong of other cultures by the local communities in which they live. It sounds as if in this particular case that the travellers have not even tried to gel with the community and have shown no respect for the locality at all.

Travellers who abide by rules, laws and have respect for where they are not so bad.
I do agree though, it's the ones like you describe who cause the problems. There are a few permanent sites round here and it amazes me what they have and pay no council tax!

If I could only show you the mess they left and the pictures that were on our local paper of them threatening the reporter and sticking their fingers up. I know that it isn't all of them being a** holes, although it is all of them who pay no council tax, it makes me wonder why everyone else should?

I can believe you Donna, I have seen similar not a million miles away from here. I understand why you feel as if you shouldn't pay council tax either. I could however say similar of some of the individuals which I had to visit in my professional role.....many made me wonder why I paid any tax at all I think it's probably made so much worse as obviously it's a collective behaving in this manner which of course multiplies the problem by many times. You have my sympathy it must be awful and if it's any consolation I think you did the right thing reporting it. I can understand your despair at the lack of management of the problem also.

Good for you - we have them over here in Gosport at the moment too!!

Have you seen the cars they drive - massive big things - don't work 'cause they travel - how can you be looking for work if you are travelling around, paying no council tax - I' fed up with them!!

yep definitely a problem with the dumping...not good. Sorry for your encounter by the way

We have travellers all near us about a dozen with double decker buses were parked up just up the road from me along a by way and bridleways (not blocking any) and along side the heathland and I liked them and always talked to one girl when walking my dogs. They always smiled and were always real polite...Much nicer then some people living in housing estates no doubt

The girl I used to talk to lost her dog and put notices out for him and her mobile number on them...Someone called her number and told her 'you should check up at the travellers site, they probably took it'...She was quite hurt by that.

They all got moved on and are now a bit further away...and we have two groups in different areas in the forest where I live right next to and walk the dogs. You hardly ever see them just their buses etc and I never had any trouble so I like them

The worst we get is sometimes you can hear distant loud music cuz they like to party now and then but that doesn't bother me at all, I listen to peoples screaming kids in my neighbour hood so a bit of music in the distant don't bother me at all.

When we first moved here we got leaflets in the door by the residents committee eagerly wanting them to be turfed out and complaining about the music etc...But to be honest the kids that kick footballs on my fence when their is plenty of room to play without kicking my fence annoy me loads more then anything the travellers get up to.

Luckily the ones near us don't make much mess at all and seem quite respectful of the land they occupy, they don't take up much space and so long as they are moderated...I.E only a certain number allowed in one area so that it doesn't take the p*ss then I have no problem and if I'm ever down on my luck and can't afford to stay in a house any more I might join them

If the ones near us did make alot of mess I would think about contacting the right people and asking them to pass on a notice saying that the rubbish situation needs to be addressed or they can get moved on if they don't comply...Cuz the mess and abuse of the land would annoy me too.

Myschievous, do you know what they do with their rubbish? Just wondering cause you said they dont make any, maybe the others could take a leaf out of their book?

If they are a mouthy bunch then they are probably the ones from here, they moved from Easten road to Havant and then on again they have been getting it easy in hampshire and will probably be staying around here somewhere, did you read the news when they had them front cover?

Yeah I think you are right - only here for a day or so - cost £900 of tax payers money to clear up behind them without the legal costs to get them of the kiddies football pitch.

Don't know if I saw the news that day - now that would have started me off. They built higher verges at Stokes Bay to stop them getting on there - but that doesn't stop them. They send an 'advance party' to check out accessable sights. mmmm