Travellers have urged Croydon Council to find them a permanent site because they want to settle down.Ummmm. Yeah. Me too.
*scratches head*
Last week it was revealed the authority had dealt with 83 illegal encampments this year, and that it had cost taxpayers more than £3,000 a week to clean up after travellers.
But Michael Connors, one of the caravan-dwellers near Croydon's Ikea this week, has hit back at the criticism.Oh, well, there’s always one.
The 30-year-old dad-of-four said he was fed-up travelling around and wanted to receive some long-term help.But they don’t want to be called ‘beggars’, remember?
Mr Connors said: "If we get a site we'd pay gas and electricity and rates, we don't want it for free. "Croydon is a very big area and Croydon has got lots of wasteland. I need somewhere permanent to get my children permanent education.
"They (Croydon Council) are supposed to have so many sites – we would like to be off the road.
"There's a lot of travellers who have gone off the roads and into houses."Want, want want.
Council leader Mike Fisher tore into a group of travellers last month and slammed the rubbish and human excrement being left behind as "a risk to human health".
But Mr Connor says it is important not to class all travellers as "bad'uns".And yet, that’s all we ever seem to hear. When do we ever see a story of travellers giving back to the community? Sorting out the mess they cause?
Never. That’s when.
He explained: "If there's any crime in the area then people think we've done it. "Once we move off the site the fly-tippers come along. We actually get the blame for it.
"To be honest it makes us feel tormented."Awwwww! Fetch the Tiny Violin!
"If we get a site we'd pay gas and electricity and rates, we don't want it for free."
ReplyDeleteYes they do. They don't want to buy a house, they don't want to go through planning to build a house, they don't want to buy any land. They want all that given to them.
If they want to be nomads, move somewhere where nomads are the norm. The Maghreb or Mongolian Deserts, say. Or the Arabian peninsula.
ReplyDeleteI need somewhere permanent to get my children permanent education.
ReplyDeleteAnd this differs from everyone else how exactly?
I don't really see the reason to criticize here. The man wants a more permanent place to stay and housing is scarce, so he is frustrated. Thats a reasonable state to be in for anyone who can't find an apartment.
ReplyDeleteThere are loads of 'permanent sites' around Croydon. They are called 'houses'.
ReplyDeleteDOC
No one is criticizing this dirty thieving tramp for his aspirations to own a house, just the fact that he expects everybody else to pay for it. If you feel so much compassion for the pikeys, perhaps they could use your front garden?
XX "Travellers To Be Called….What?" XX Answers on a postcard?
ReplyDeleteSecons toughts, sending insulting words or names through the post is probably an offence, so put them in an envelope.
ReplyDelete"Fetch the Tiny Violin!"
ReplyDeleteOk ok in a minute...I'm busy at the mo putting new batteries in my Give-A-Fuck-O-Meter and for the third time today.
It's eating them lately.
I wonder if there's a solar version ?
DOC said...for anyone who can't find an apartment.
ReplyDeleteThat's wot posh people call "a flat" or "a bedsit". Heh.
I wonder if the council would find me somewhere too? Nothing fancy, a couple of acres, maybe water-fronted, not too near where the riff raff live. Ta very much.
ReplyDeleteAnd in return, I promise not to shit on the neighbour's lawn.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI need somewhere permanent to get my children permanent education.
ReplyDeleteTranslation courtesy of the Friends Families and Travellers website.
..the Planning Inspectorate will look at the merits of your case. Your best chance of success at the appeal stage is if you have strong personal circumstances. This usually includes things like the fact that you have nowhere else to go (no other sites available to you) or you need to stay in the area for health and/or education reasons (your children attend the local school...
"To be honest it makes us feel tormented."
ReplyDeleteThat, of course, should read: "It makes us tormented to be honest."
""
ReplyDelete"They want all that given to them."
Well, indeed. Either they are stupid, or they think we're stupid and won't realise it...
"And this differs from everyone else how exactly?"
In no way, shape or form that I can see....
"I'm busy at the mo putting new batteries in my Give-A-Fuck-O-Meter and for the third time today."
:D
"And in return, I promise not to shit on the neighbour's lawn."
That, sadly, is a step too far for most..