Gypsies on my land!!!!!!!

vet8

I have suggested to this bloke that he goes and parks his caravan at his new house, but he looked blank - new house my foot!!

I still cannot get hold of our acquaintance, only his answer phone. I am certain he has stitched us up here totally, but I don't know why.

The local council have not been much help, there is no short stay gypsy site in the area, they have been debating where to put one for ages, but no-one wants one on their doortstep. I can't say I blame them.

My husband has a friend who is a local police sergeant, he has been helpful, he is very concerned about us and said at the first sign of trouble call the police in straightaway and they will deal with them. I get the impression they don't like these sort any more than we do.

Poppycat

Found this info

http://www.midbeds.gov.uk/Environmental_Services_and_Housing/Home_Environment/Gypsy_Traveller_Encampments/default.aspx#If_Gypsies_or_Travellers_camp_on_my_land_what_can_I_do

andrew-b

Have you actually tried knocking on your "acquaintance's" door as it's easy for him to ignore the phone? If he is a businessman and on the parish council he must be obtainable somehow. Maybe he wouldn't mind the gypsies/travellers (whatever-you-want-to-call-them) siting their caravan outside his house? I'd be so tempted to suggest it to the gypsies ...after all he is their "friend" not yours.

I'm not sure that your acquaintance can be of much help though other than giving him what-for and perhaps enlightening you to why this has happened to you. He may have been fooled by them like you were and too ashamed to admit his mistake. Maybe the gypsies have something on your acquaintance and blackmailed him into it. Or as you say maybe he thinks he has some grudge to bear against you. You may never know.

Perhaps you could ask your husbands police sergeant friend to pop in for a cup of tea... but looking like his on official business (whether he is or not!) in a marked police car of course and making sure the gypsies know of police presence! Don't let the gypsies know his a friend though. He may even be willing to ask his police friends to drop in on you when they are in the area just to keep up a police presence. I'd also ask him if he'd be willing to pay a visit on your acquaintance to try and find out whats going on. I don't see that this would be wasting police time as you are obviously very uncomfortable about having the gypsies on your land and don't feel secure in your own home.

Whatever you do though don't give the gypsies any reason to think your not serious about moving them on. I'm sure you will get them off your land eventually and there's no way your going to make the same mistake twice!

Good luck

Andy

Debt_Free_Chick

An observation if I may.....

You appear to be too laid back. At the moment, there is no evidence that you have instructed them to leave. They have no legal requirement to leave until you issue them with a formal eviction notice, which will need to go through the County Court. All of this takes weeks ..... so why delay?

My fear is that you have been "had" and no-one else is going to do anything about this - they can't as it's not their problem.

Did you call the Traveller Liaison Officer? Ignore what the visitor says about being a Gypsy or not (anyway, Traveller is the more correct term). Do they have electricity, fresh water and toilet facilities? If not, then call the TLO and state that their living facilities are unhygenic and you fear for their health - the TLO MUST then get involved. Don't let them fob you off!

Remember, you face a potential planning breach for having a residential dwelling (albeit temporary) on land where there is no permission.

Don't be soft - these people know how to "work the system" and you will have to be tough if you want them moved on.

Benny24

Sorry to read about your plight. Debt free chick is right.....you must make positive moves in the right direction to get these people moved. The longer you leave it, the longer it will take. It will also look as though you are "happy" for them to be there.....

I would also have been straight round to your acquaintance, and had a quiet word.

Please take the above advice....Don't delay.

misgrace

Excellent advice again DFC,

Excellent suggestions also from Andrew-b, I love how your mind works, sort of thing I would do, you should take up either writing plays or books, you would very good at it.:D Just remember to dedicate your first novel to me.lol

vet8

Well things have taken a turn here! I have done what everyone has told me not to do and really lost my temper.:eek:

During the day, my husband asked these people when they were moving and the man said he wanted to stay here and would be willing to pay us a rent for the place. I realised then that they had no intention of moving, they would be unlikely to find anywhere better. I did not want to wait 28 days for a court order to take effect as the neighbours are starting to complain so I resolved to track down our acquaintance and get him to act. As it happened things moved before then.

Last night, we had been out at the local rugby club watching the England game, we got back just after 10.00. The bloody gate was wide open as usual, the yard was full of about 5 or 6 cars and there seemed to be some sort of party going on, there were loads of people.

So I just exploded. :mad: It is not my nature at all to get argumentative, I hate confrontation, but I just could not stand it any longer. I told this guy to get his ****** family off my land in the morning. The wife joined in and we had a right row, I called her a fishwife among other things. I had to restrain myself from hitting her.

She said we had to get a court order and anyway we had invited them through the gate, they had not broken in. This from a woman who is so thick she had to ask what type of birds our geese were, but she knows all about trespass law!! She then whined on at length about our dogs and said we should have kept them shut away as she was frightened of them. When I tried to explain that this was OUR home and the dogs have every right to wander around the yard if they like she was insistent that it was not our home it was HER home. You cannot reason with people like that, she obviously feels that they are the ones who have been hard done by.

There were a few amusing moments in all this, the teenage daughter stood in the caravan behind her mother and made intelligent contributions to the argument such as "You’re a pig." "You smell". She is obviously a great addition to the national gene pool!!

Anyway I told them they had to go in the morning or I would get a load of our big, strong friends and a Land Rover and tow their caravan off our land and dump them and everything.

My husband was not happy, he said I had gone too far, but I really could not stand it any longer, I had had enough. It just came out.

After another sleepless night, things do seem to be happening, they have loaded virtually everything into their lorry and look like they are going. I hope so or I will have to round up some burly men to throw them off as I threatened.

I will keep you all informed.

debsy42

If they do happen to go, lock the gate after them quicksticks and park something in front of the gate so they can't about turn and come back in. So sorry to hear of all your troubles, what a nightmare when you're tried to help out

marleyboy

My deepest sympathies go out to you. However I do remember a case where these travelling gypsies trespassed on a farmers land, and used the law to the max in order to stay. Eventually the farmer TOO used the law, and turned up with a JCB, thus PHYSICALLY removed the caravans and tipped them out onto the road (with the dwellers still inside). The police watched, as it was on his land, there was nothing they could do. (I know the police found it amusing, they too got a kind of self satisfaction).

Wish I could find the link for you.

andrew-b

misgrace wrote: »

Excellent suggestions also from Andrew-b, I love how your mind works, sort of thing I would do, you should take up either writing plays or books, you would very good at it.:D Just remember to dedicate your first novel to me.lol

Aww thanks! Will do

vet8, sounds promising! At least now it should be pretty clear to them that you mean business in getting them to move. Anyone got a JCB to lend? Or even better a steamroller to flatten them cartoon-style! I'd keep a very close eye on things in the next day or two and not leave the place unattended just in case they take any kind of revenge (i hope they don't but i wouldn't be too surprised if they do). Get the police round at the first sign of any trouble. When they leave get those gates locked shut before you think about doing anything else and then block off any other routes onto your land with whatever you can think of until you can get a more permanent solution (maybe hire some of those metal fences you see round building sites? A site near where i used to work did just that after gypsies moved on)

Andy