Any market traders or travelling showmen on here?

[Wacky Racer]

Always seems like hard graft to me, out in all weathers, setting up the stalls/rides and taking them down, then moving on to another town.

I suppose it's more a vocation than a job.......

[gus607]

And not declaring all your takings to the Taxman.

[Spare tyre]

No but my girlfriends mum has lived in the same small town for ever

When she was about 15 the fairground came to town for two weeks in the summer

A guy from the fairground managed to knock up a whole bunch of teens and of course was long gone before they all knew about it. All the babies came at the same time so there are a load of people still knocking about from this visit fourty or so years ago

Wonder how many more he has

[ChemicalChaos]

gus607 said:

And not declaring all your takings to the Taxman.

And lots of metal fittings mysteriously disappearing from the surrounding area...

Then again, for every 3.14key 2-bit trader, there is a proper traditional travelling fairground family. Carters, for instance instance, travel around in vintage lorries and their carousel rides are still powered by steam

[boyse7en]

Fiend of mine works for a small fairground ride supplier - they do fetes, county shows, carnivals, etc.

Lots of early starts (often roads are closed for the event, so they have to get the lorry in, set up and leave before the road shuts)
Lots of standing in the rain. Which is doubly miserable because no one goes on a roundabout in the rain
Lots of repair work (some of his rides are old Victorian things that need hand painting every winter)

She likes it though. She likes the buzz of a busy event and the banter.

[paul.a]

ChemicalChaos said:

And lots of metal fittings mysteriously disappearing from the surrounding area...

Then again, for every 3.14key 2-bit trader, there is a proper traditional travelling fairground family. Carters, for instance instance, travel around in vintage lorries and their carousel rides are still powered by steam

I know plenty of showmen don't confuse them with do as you likeys they are not interested in driving round nicking scrap they do pay tax how else can they justify paying £2-300,000 for a ride ? The taxman would be on them straight away people always mix them up totally different set of people they mostly live on there own sites with other showmen and won't pull on your local park except to run a fair with permission of your local council.

[Buster73]

paul.a said:

I know plenty of showmen don't confuse them with do as you likeys they are not interested in driving round nicking scrap they do pay tax how else can they justify paying £2-300,000 for a ride ? The taxman would be on them straight away people always mix them up totally different set of people they mostly live on there own sites with other showmen and won't pull on your local park except to run a fair with permission of your local council.

I do as well , good set of lads and all hard grafters.

What the public won't be aware of is that most of them are controlled by the Showmanship Guild which has some draconian powers , also the fact of many generations of the same families have grown up and worked together.

[wack]

I used to be a market trader during the 80s

Made a good living at it but you're right it is hard work and freezing in the winter

I wouldn't want to be doing it now, everybody shops in supermarkets or online at the cheaper end so there's no money in it plus running a van on a 100 mile round trip for no guaranteed income wouldn't be economic

[Wacky Racer]

wack said:

I used to be a market trader during the 80s

Made a good living at it but you're right it is hard work and freezing in the winter

I wouldn't want to be doing it now, everybody shops in supermarkets or online at the cheaper end so there's no money in it plus running a van on a 100 mile round trip for no guaranteed income wouldn't be economic

This.

Most (not all) market traders I see about are very hard working salt of the earth types, I don't think they would enjoy 9-5 office work.

Fair play to them. especially in the depths of winter.....

[wack]

I used to sell shoes, but not just the usual , ,loakes etc

I once had this woman give me a cheque, I was nervous about taking it as I'd never heard of the bank but she had a guarantee card so I took it.

I went straight round to the barclays to pay it in and asked if it was OK

He looked at it and said, I'm sure it'll be fine

Coutts

[northwest monkey]

wack said:

I used to sell shoes, but not just the usual , ,loakes etc

I once had this woman give me a cheque, I was nervous about taking it as I'd never heard of the bank but she had a guarantee card so I took it.

I went straight round to the barclays to pay it in and asked if it was OK

He looked at it and said, I'm sure it'll be fine

Coutts

Completely unrelated, but I once saw a woman try to pay for her shopping in Tesco with a BCCI cheque. She got very shouty when they refused to accept it.

I wanted to join a circus when I was younger.

[RobinBanks]

northwest monkey said:

Completely unrelated, but I once saw a woman try to pay for her shopping in Tesco with a BCCI cheque. She got very shouty when they refused to accept it.

I wanted to join a circus when I was younger.

Oof, not a bad idea. The dodgiest business institution I can think of, excepting maybe Enron.

[BlackLabel]

paul.a said:

I know plenty of showmen don't confuse them with do as you likeys they are not interested in driving round nicking scrap they do pay tax how else can they justify paying £2-300,000 for a ride ? The taxman would be on them straight away people always mix them up totally different set of people they mostly live on there own sites with other showmen and won't pull on your local park except to run a fair with permission of your local council.

The taxman doesn't have the man power to go after everyone who doesn't declare their income accurately. Sure these guys will be paying some tax but given it's a cash business will they be declaring the full extent of their income?

[paul.a]

BlackLabel said:

paul.a said:

I know plenty of showmen don't confuse them with do as you likeys they are not interested in driving round nicking scrap they do pay tax how else can they justify paying £2-300,000 for a ride ? The taxman would be on them straight away people always mix them up totally different set of people they mostly live on there own sites with other showmen and won't pull on your local park except to run a fair with permission of your local council.

The taxman doesn't have the man power to go after everyone who doesn't declare their income accurately. Sure these guys will be paying some tax but given it's a cash business will they be declaring the full extent of their income?

Who knows but my point is any business builders, plumbers plasterers etc etc that has to deal with cash does everybody who deals in cash declare everything ? Just because they are showmen doesn't mean they don't pay tax why single out these people over any other business