Travellers in town car park - why aren't they fined?
Discussion
A car park in my local town was swamped by travellers at the weekend. They arrived towards the end of last week, took over a whole car park and left on Sunday. Apparently, they left behind loads of rubbish that the council spent hours clearing up.
They also seemed to leave without a single ticket being issued by parking wardens. Why is this? Is it because they are of no fixed abode? If so though, how can they all be driving around in modern vehicles on public roads?
The police weren't interested and said it's a civil matter.
I'm wondering if I would be able to leave my vehicle in the car park all weekend and not get a ticket.
One thing of note from the weekend is the boom in broken TV, generator and chainsaw sales. I'm yet to find another mobile business who sells all of these things from one van.
They also seemed to leave without a single ticket being issued by parking wardens. Why is this? Is it because they are of no fixed abode? If so though, how can they all be driving around in modern vehicles on public roads?
The police weren't interested and said it's a civil matter.
I'm wondering if I would be able to leave my vehicle in the car park all weekend and not get a ticket.
One thing of note from the weekend is the boom in broken TV, generator and chainsaw sales. I'm yet to find another mobile business who sells all of these things from one van.
Touchy subject and one that can generate a lot of feeling.
Personally I would love to hear a story where travelling folk came to town, left their site as they found it, did some good and reasonably price work for the townsfolk, had a great "craic" in the local pubs with no fighting and no increase in theft was registered.
Yeah, didn't think so.....
Personally I would love to hear a story where travelling folk came to town, left their site as they found it, did some good and reasonably price work for the townsfolk, had a great "craic" in the local pubs with no fighting and no increase in theft was registered.
Yeah, didn't think so.....
By virtue of the fact they are "travellers", they have no address to which they can be pursued, no fixed asset against which to recoup debts and no means of reliably tracking them down. That's why they do it. If you're NFA, you're laughing. You can escape an awful lot of bureaucracy/fines/taxes/laws/etc just by being a renter, moving semi-regularly and not being on the electoral roll. Let alone driving a transit and moving to a new playing fields every two weeks.
Reardy Mister said:
By virtue of the fact they are "travellers", they have no address to which they can be pursued, no fixed asset against which to recoup debts and no means of reliably tracking them down. That's why they do it. If you're NFA, you're laughing. You can escape an awful lot of bureaucracy/fines/taxes/laws/etc just by being a renter, moving semi-regularly and not being on the electoral roll. Let alone driving a transit and moving to a new playing fields every two weeks.
How do they get their vehicles registered? If you have no fixed address, how can you have a logbook, tax, insurance etc? Or do they have none of this.
Interesting.
You say "They seemed to leave without a single ticket being issued"
What do you mean?
Were any tickets issued or not, how do you know, what is said on the signs about parking in the car park, is it managed by a private firm or council wardens.
It's easy to make assumptions but unless you know then that's all they are and I'm not looking to defend them by the way.
You say "They seemed to leave without a single ticket being issued"
What do you mean?
Were any tickets issued or not, how do you know, what is said on the signs about parking in the car park, is it managed by a private firm or council wardens.
It's easy to make assumptions but unless you know then that's all they are and I'm not looking to defend them by the way.
We live on the route to Appleby.
No doubt many people go there look after their horses, take their litter with them and obey the law.
But a significant minority do not. Petty crime increases every year. They pinch anything not locked up or tied down.
The police face endless calls including animal welfare ones.
All in all, a big hassle.
No doubt many people go there look after their horses, take their litter with them and obey the law.
But a significant minority do not. Petty crime increases every year. They pinch anything not locked up or tied down.
The police face endless calls including animal welfare ones.
All in all, a big hassle.
J4CKO said:
Touchy subject and one that can generate a lot of feeling.
Personally I would love to hear a story where travelling folk came to town, left their site as they found it, did some good and reasonably price work for the townsfolk, had a great "craic" in the local pubs with no fighting and no increase in theft was registered.
Yeah, didn't think so.....
OK, Personally I would love to hear a story where travelling folk came to town, left their site as they found it, did some good and reasonably price work for the townsfolk, had a great "craic" in the local pubs with no fighting and no increase in theft was registered.
Yeah, didn't think so.....
About 25 years ago, my Dad was Chairman of the village council when the issue of two "traveller" vans being parked up on a remote moorland carpark came into his remit. To cut a fairly long and involved to-ing and fro-ing with eviction notices etc story short, my dad said they were very polite each time he and the various officers went to see them, they had parked right at one end of the car park (which was rarely used anyway as it was very remote and it was the depths of winter) and had been swapping wood chopping/tree felling for food with local residents.
When they eventually left, they bagged up all their rubbish and left it next to the bins in the car park, put the turf back over where they had had a fire and left a small log carving of an otter on the top.
They were much more the hand-knitted lentils and ban-the-bomb brigade than the rottweilers-and-Transit fraternity.
funkyrobot said:
Reardy Mister said:
By virtue of the fact they are "travellers", they have no address to which they can be pursued, no fixed asset against which to recoup debts and no means of reliably tracking them down. That's why they do it. If you're NFA, you're laughing. You can escape an awful lot of bureaucracy/fines/taxes/laws/etc just by being a renter, moving semi-regularly and not being on the electoral roll. Let alone driving a transit and moving to a new playing fields every two weeks.
How do they get their vehicles registered? If you have no fixed address, how can you have a logbook, tax, insurance etc? Or do they have none of this.
J4CKO said:
Touchy subject and one that can generate a lot of feeling.
Personally I would love to hear a story where travelling folk came to town, left their site as they found it, did some good and reasonably price work for the townsfolk, had a great "craic" in the local pubs with no fighting and no increase in theft was registered.
Yeah, didn't think so.....
We had a couple of proper old style horse drawn caravan travelers set up on a wide verge near us some years ago (early 90's), they stayed for a while as they had a foal that sick. My father and another local farmer always seemed to have a spare end of a bale of hay in the back when they happened to be passing, and they were inbetween the local vets surgery and his house and I quite often saw his car pulled up there too. They helped our neighbor clear up some woodland in exchange for some wood, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if there was a reduction in the number of rabbits too.Personally I would love to hear a story where travelling folk came to town, left their site as they found it, did some good and reasonably price work for the townsfolk, had a great "craic" in the local pubs with no fighting and no increase in theft was registered.
Yeah, didn't think so.....
As always, the bad ones ruin it for the few.
I have some friends who are showmen - well I think of them as friends.
They live in caravans on a permanent site and have rides for fun fairs.
Every so often, they come to our industrial estate and, with permission, set the rides up for repairs, inspections or painting.
They often help us with minor engineering works and are a great family.
I have another Traveller who stores stuff on site here and lives at a local site. Never have a problem with him.
It tends to be the transient ones who give us problems. Those on fixed local sites are normally much less of a problem.
I have some friends who are showmen - well I think of them as friends.
They live in caravans on a permanent site and have rides for fun fairs.
Every so often, they come to our industrial estate and, with permission, set the rides up for repairs, inspections or painting.
They often help us with minor engineering works and are a great family.
I have another Traveller who stores stuff on site here and lives at a local site. Never have a problem with him.
It tends to be the transient ones who give us problems. Those on fixed local sites are normally much less of a problem.
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