The travellers were blamed for fly-tipping when all that was left on the common after they went back up north were some neat piles of mulched bark and branches.
Of course, they should not have left anything, ideally. But I’m not convinced they didn’t cut back the overgrowth to get their caravans parked, improving a meadow which was hideously unkempt after years of neglect by the local authorities.
All travellers are not the same, any more than all ‘insert racial group’ are all the same. You wouldn’t get away with labelling any other community as all bad, therefore when travelling people behave well it should be celebrated. Instead, the authorities did their best to paint them as antisocial. The notice cancelling the fête was left up for weeks. It is still there as I write. Yes, yes, we get the message.
Smaller laminated signs went up everywhere telling residents that a clear-up operation was under way because ‘this area has suffered a large amount of litter and fly tipping’.
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