A FAMILY of travellers face being removed from an area of derelict land after Wirral Council started proceedings to evict them.
There are currently four caravans on the land behind Birkenhead North train station and spokesman for the group, Tommy Johnson, said they had nowhere else to go.
He said prior to arriving in Birkenhead they had been on land at sites in Liverpool, Crosby and Skelmersdale.
Mr Johnson said they had been largely welcomed by local people 'who pop down for a cup of tea and biscuit and chat' and added that one of their family was an elderly woman with a heart condition.
He said they were aware the local authority was seeking to move them on but insisted: 'We have no where to go. If the council can find us somewhere we will gladly go there.'
Charlie Wright, who is their nearest neighbour, said he was glad to see the travellers and added: 'I've told them fill the fields with caravans. They are brilliant people, no trouble.
'The local kids have been playing with their kids and I told them to bring other travellers and fill the fields.'
He said the land had been left derelict for years despite repeated council promises to build new housing there.
He added: 'The travellers might as well use it because the council aren't going to build anything at this rate.'
Mr Johnson and another traveller John Docherty said they were not aware of any other travellers seeking to move there.
A council spokesman said: 'The council has begun the process of regaining possession of the land on which this encampment has been established.
'In the meantime, we will continue to assist representatives of other agencies in assessing and managing any welfare needs.'

THE ECHO

Am I the only one thinking that a group of gypos in their caravans is likely making that area look a little better?

Let them stay, I say. They're letting most people live in that area for free, why not them!?

Especially if they're doing no harm.

When I seen them on the land yesterday I was thinking why not let them stay there, I bet they have more respect than some of the locals.. they would make the Place look better than its look for the past how many years. And if the the locals are happy then why not...

As I was reading this I was thinking, what harm are they doing? Why does the council really want the land back? They aren't doing a damn thing with it!
If they aren't stealing the lead off the roofs then leave them to it, I say!

Good point Croc

I guess they have to be seen to be fair across the board with these things.

Yes i totally agree with you croc ,you know John docherty he is related to the one off big brother

If only they were though! Layabouts getting free accomodation but little old ladies being thrown out of care homes due to closures, if they WERE fair across the board then items like these wouldn't make the news!

You will soon find the novelty will wear off when the buckets of human waste end up close to where you live,dreadful,disgusting awful.

Yeh they can stay. But how long will it be until crime increases in the area and their waste is everywhere on the site because they have nowhere else to take it?

I completely disagree with letting them stay, it defeats the object. Why should I pay mortgage, tax and other fees to do my bit for the economy when they can live for free and have the sympathy of people?

crime increase in birkenhead north?

WELL NOTED.

An increase is an increase. Why should we pay for them!

It really annoys me thats all

I

Lmao

whatold ladies thrown out the care homes

On a serious note the council are being petty, they aren't doing anything with the land and they don't want anyone else using it!
If these people enjoy living next to a noisy train station, crapping in carrier bags and drinking unfiltered rainwater then so be it.

After all the neighbours get on with them. It's only a matter of time that they get bored and move on anyway.

I can tell you one thing though, the council kick up a fuss and they will stay as long as they can just out of principle.

i remember way back when,when the travellers were all camped on moreton common, i work in tarran way builders yard and we had so many break ins at night that the boss at the time ended up staying at night in the office on a camp bed.the council finally had them moving on by giving them all free tanks of fuel from the petrol station that used to be opposite leasowe castle.they emptied the station dry in about three hours.council paid for the lot.

Them residents will be sorry when their house prices go down.

and vermin running all over the place!

theiving vermin, crapping in Tesco bags, rats, living off the good people of Wirral......give the Travellers a few weeks and I'm sure they will get used to all this!

Welcome to Birkenhead North. Caravan or not.

Edited for accuracy

Gypsies should not be welcomed anywhere.
Yes I have no doubts that some of them are nice normal people, but not all of them. The difference is if they do something they just pack up and move on before anyone can punish the guilty party. It is a time bomb waiting to go off. Are their kids going to the schools there? No? Well why not. If you kept your kids off for one day you get a call, 2 days and half the social services will be knocking on your door. Why? Because kids need to go to school to be taught how to behave, right from wrong, respect for other people. They want our respect and our land, well abide by our rules. Pay rent, pay council tax, send your kids to school...etc.

HA Marvelous love it

In a fair and ideal world I'd agree, they should be allowed to stay there, and there's definitely enough room for a few more.

The land is not in use, just like all that grass land on the front at New Brighton, and just being wasted, and it would save other areas having to put up with the hassle.

But then it's not a fair world, and I realise that in a few months, or even a year or two down the line, when the council do find a use for the site for the benefit of locals they will have to clear it.

Then when Wirral council having decided to do something about it are forced to up my council tax and cut a few more services to pay for the evictions and cleaning up, I'll, like a few others on here, will be screaming like a butt poked pig at the costs we are being forced to contend with.

fook the gyppos i say and i live under british isle rule, and why is that, maybe because i live on the british isles. but hang on? do i have to live by the rules, im really confused now

When the travelers were last camped out on the United Utilities field on Wallasey promenade they just defecated on the field & not in plastic bags. They also left mounds of rubbish including broken paving slabs & rubble that the council had to pay to have cleaned up. I also saw several hypodermic syringes & needles lying around. I suppose someone might have been diabetic.

Diabetic ? Of course Tatey, that'll be it. Silly me was thinking it was something else.

let 5 gippoes stay now and wake up on monday and 20 will be there .
and so on .

Are well at lest there by the tip you all need to look closer to home at some of the tip rats we pay for as tax payers, think you will find there the ones that need moving on..

LMFAO

Some good points it's a pity they are surrounded by so much vindictive diatribe that you miss the point they try to make. Councils should of provided a decent number of pitches,to a standard that could be charged for at the going rate, or off you pop.The collapse of the infer-structure of a lot of the small village locations they choose to stop at means that locals are effected in many ways, and quite rightly kick up.Schools, local GP's,and sanitation are a few.A time limit on the stay should be introduced,I don't think a person on a fixed site for a full year can call themselves travellers. The gypsy community are not going to vanish so a sensible attitude and solution has to be found.

send them back to ireland, thats a good solution

Haven't read all the posts on this topic as CBA but, how do you know they are Irish?

the majority normally are mum, they may not be for a change bvut normally in the north west we get the irish ones, down south they get the roma ones which are worse than the irish ones

Half of these so called `travellers` all have houses and permenant property in Ireland. No one makes them `travel`!!!

Half of Elton/Ince is owned by gippos.
My mate bought a house years ago in Elton. One day they had a knock on the door. It was a couple of gippos.
Basically they said, how much for the house, my father built it and we want it back!!
It was at the same time he was thinking of moving anyway, and made them pay way over the market price!!!!
I know all the docks in Birkenhead have been extra vigilant!
They went into one of the paper warehouses on the dock road last week. They asked if they had any scrap or vans for sale. My mate is the boss in there and all the time thru the conversation he said the gippo never once looked at him, his eyes were all round the warehouse eying it up. They made sure it was WELL locked and left nothing out since!!

Remember your roots then young man!

im not having a go at the irish mum, i am having ago at the gypsies, unless ur saying we r descendants of gyppos haha

but just think though? in a few weeks you'll all have nice tarmac drives, new clothes pegs for your washing and fragrant lucky heather, and maybe lucky beads,but maybe also the odd curse. How lucky is that?

WBC seems to take a pretty firm stance on gypsies. Even though they are required by law to have a designated area so to speak they don't want any part of it. They even helped local residents buy a large parcel of land by J2 M53 as people got wind of the interest the gypsies had shown. Locals bid against them at auction and won. Land then given over to the Woodlands Trust-everyones happy.

A member of the station staff told my dad the weekend before last that Merseytravel were after using that land as a park and ride, including an extension of the platform footbridge.

Nothing coming up on the Council planning website though...

I remember once coming home from work and my daughter had let some "travellers" kids who at the time where camped by bidston train station come to mine to have a bath. I was shocked to say the least. About an hour after they went a man knocked and said "here you r lady £10 for your electric and soap, thank you for letting my kids have a bath. lol . Last year there was some others camping nearby and my other daughter court one of them robbing her washing off the line. I think the old saying that there is good and bad in all walks of life is very true.

At the end of the day they don't pay taxes and we have to pay for the mess they leave behind and if these are the ones who have came from Seacombe Ferry keep ya kids away from them all because they are pedophiles and one of their kids has recently been found guilty for a sexual assault on an 8 year old child and 2 physical assaults!!!

Source?

If they turned into your neighbours you wouldn't be so chuffed and forgiving. Be real because you know they cause problems where ever they go. Remember from years when they used to go on Gallaghers Hill, nothing but trouble and strife.

I am a family friend of the victims