Not news as won't be in the nationals
Discussion
I am livid. Really angry. Normally I can put such things as this behind me but this one really boils me up.
Our rugby club has lovely grounds. To get to it you drive past football pitches. On a Saturday and Sunday these pitches for both sports are full of youngsters who don't sit around moaning all the time (except when they lose) and with adults who spend their own time helping others not only for no monetary reward but it costs them as well.
Every summer we get an influx of gypsies/travellers who park on the pitches, ruin them, ride motorbikes, vans and cars around them and leave mes and rubble behind, the normal sort of thing. Expensive metal gates have been erected but are often 'left open', the suspicion being that they gypsies/travellers threaten someone with the code and so they get in.
I'm not judging those who give in to the threats. And nor should anyone else as:
I went up to the club last night for rugby training with my lad and there was a big patch of burnt material in the car park I normally use.
The goundsman for the rugby club moves around from place to place this time of year in his own little caravan with his life in it tending various pitches and stuff. He's a lovely bloke.
He was approached by gypsies/travellers and threatened if he did not reveal the code to the gate but he refused. Then his caravan was torched.
The 'van was close to the clubhouse so he hitched up the flaming 'van and towed it to a car park a little way along, away from anything of value and any greenery.
Can you imagine the furore is a traveller's caravan was torched? Nothing about this is in the local or national press. In the same general area a car was shot in the head with a pellet gun. That's in the Mail.
The bloke, all alone, had the bottle to stand up to bullies. When his home was on fire his first thought appeared to be that other property was not damaged.
As I said, I'm really livid. I've not put this down too coherently due to my anger. Poor bugger.
Our rugby club has lovely grounds. To get to it you drive past football pitches. On a Saturday and Sunday these pitches for both sports are full of youngsters who don't sit around moaning all the time (except when they lose) and with adults who spend their own time helping others not only for no monetary reward but it costs them as well.
Every summer we get an influx of gypsies/travellers who park on the pitches, ruin them, ride motorbikes, vans and cars around them and leave mes and rubble behind, the normal sort of thing. Expensive metal gates have been erected but are often 'left open', the suspicion being that they gypsies/travellers threaten someone with the code and so they get in.
I'm not judging those who give in to the threats. And nor should anyone else as:
I went up to the club last night for rugby training with my lad and there was a big patch of burnt material in the car park I normally use.
The goundsman for the rugby club moves around from place to place this time of year in his own little caravan with his life in it tending various pitches and stuff. He's a lovely bloke.
He was approached by gypsies/travellers and threatened if he did not reveal the code to the gate but he refused. Then his caravan was torched.
The 'van was close to the clubhouse so he hitched up the flaming 'van and towed it to a car park a little way along, away from anything of value and any greenery.
Can you imagine the furore is a traveller's caravan was torched? Nothing about this is in the local or national press. In the same general area a car was shot in the head with a pellet gun. That's in the Mail.
The bloke, all alone, had the bottle to stand up to bullies. When his home was on fire his first thought appeared to be that other property was not damaged.
As I said, I'm really livid. I've not put this down too coherently due to my anger. Poor bugger.
iphonedyou said:
Console yourself, Derek, in the knowledge that eventually these people will no longer exist.
It'll not be in your life time, or mine - or even that of our grandchildren. But their way of life is no longer sustainable in the long term. That's the very reason they're so desperate that they act like this. They're cornered rats.
Not really a solution; whatever they transpose to it will always be anti social.It'll not be in your life time, or mine - or even that of our grandchildren. But their way of life is no longer sustainable in the long term. That's the very reason they're so desperate that they act like this. They're cornered rats.
s
tty business. I'm sorry for all the decent people affected.
But until the powers-that-be (and I'm afraid I include the police on this one) drop the PC crap and take the gloves off these scumbags will continue doing whatever they want.
Edit: Actually I'll explain better, by 'the police' I mean those in charge, the Ian Blair types who seem to be at the head of most forces these days.
tty business. I'm sorry for all the decent people affected.But until the powers-that-be (and I'm afraid I include the police on this one) drop the PC crap and take the gloves off these scumbags will continue doing whatever they want.
Edit: Actually I'll explain better, by 'the police' I mean those in charge, the Ian Blair types who seem to be at the head of most forces these days.
Edited by mattviatura on Friday 3rd August 09:12
There is never any good news involving travellers, or as someone here called them by their correct name, caravan using nomadic travellers.
You would hope their abuse of the gene pool would be taking some effect on reproduction, but sadly it just seems to produce ever thicker and more violent idiots.
You would hope their abuse of the gene pool would be taking some effect on reproduction, but sadly it just seems to produce ever thicker and more violent idiots.
mattviatura said:
stty business. I'm sorry for all the decent people affected.
But until the powers-that-be (and I'm afraid I include the police on this one) drop the PC crap and take the gloves off these scumbags will continue doing whatever they want.
It is wrong on so many levels, isn't it. Brave bloke, standing up to bullies, risking damage to his car in the interestes of others. His caravan being torched, the bullies winning because the next time they threaten anyone there they won't stand up to them, and for perfectly good reasons. The press, and it has to be said local government in Brighton, will stand up for their rights to destroy and damage recreational grounds.tty business. I'm sorry for all the decent people affected.But until the powers-that-be (and I'm afraid I include the police on this one) drop the PC crap and take the gloves off these scumbags will continue doing whatever they want.
To give the local police their due, they've set up an incident on this, and are criming it as arson w/i to endanger life. But they know they will get nowhere. The gypsies/travellers will just have a wall of silence and that will be the end of it unless there's any forensic.
Later this month there will be the major influx of caravans on the pitches and the council will drag their feet and that will be that.
When working with intinerants in Brighton I had a great deal of sympathy with a lot of them. In the middle 80s we got a load down from up north who were without jobs and didn't want to live on welfare. Dozens of them came down in caravans and motorhomes looking for work. Most were friendly, even if they did turn the conversation around to the miners' strike on occasion. But it is the organisaed groups and those that have been doing it for years who are the pain.
The bloke is a little diamond and all they can do is s
t on him. People should drive into where they 'park' and honk loudly before driving off - preferably in the early hours of the morning. Apparently, this worked for some people who had gypsies set up near their farmland. Of course, it is not practical if there are lots of houses nearby. On the other hand, the houses might make a noise complaint which may be held against the gypsies if the council has some one with some balls. And wall of silence from the local community if questioned.
The above may or may not be practical ...
The above may or may not be practical ...
These people thrive on the fear they create with others. Films like Snatch glorified their ways and there untouchable status and all the while those incharge of our green spaces prevaricate about getting rid of them.
They have become almost untouchable with special exemptions to set up homes om land others were denied access to through the normal planning rules. When the council wanted to set up a camp in Avonmouth they were not allowed as the air was not good enough for them and yet the for locals who own homes in the area it was fine.
I despise those who support them and make them into an enthnic group with all added protection that brings.
I hope the guy gets another van and those responsible are brought to justic but I doubt that will happen.
They have become almost untouchable with special exemptions to set up homes om land others were denied access to through the normal planning rules. When the council wanted to set up a camp in Avonmouth they were not allowed as the air was not good enough for them and yet the for locals who own homes in the area it was fine.
I despise those who support them and make them into an enthnic group with all added protection that brings.
I hope the guy gets another van and those responsible are brought to justic but I doubt that will happen.
But these travelling folk appear so lovely in the media....
I feel so sorry for your club and groundsman, as you say there's little you can do as you either open the gates and end up with a ruined facility or they attack what you own if you do not give in to them.
Hopefully a little bit of karma will mean one of the gas bottles that they'vestolen purchased legally will blow up and wipe out a few of them, I doubt anyone will miss the feral scum 
I feel so sorry for your club and groundsman, as you say there's little you can do as you either open the gates and end up with a ruined facility or they attack what you own if you do not give in to them.
Hopefully a little bit of karma will mean one of the gas bottles that they've
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