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There is some sort of Traveller & Gypsy society that offers a mail holding and collection service, however, many don't bother, as I was sat in a POLICE car on the M1 and a parade of them went past and the ANPR screen kept saying "No Registered Keeper With DVLA" every time a scruffy transit or 4x4 went past, but they are above the law as they are often used to do the dirty work of the equally, if not more corrupt establishment.
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You could argue that if the DVLA has devised a system which demands a fixed address, then it is a problem of their own making.
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"No Registered Keeper With DVLA" every time a scruffy transit or 4x4 went past but they are above the law as they are often used to do the dirty work
How can they be above the law? Why were they not stopped?
Having said that, did anyone see the police, stop (or similar) programm where the police were chasing a stolen car which promptly went into a travellers camp - the police called off the pursuit at that point!
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Having said that did anyone see the police stop (or similar) programm where the police were chasing a stolen car which promptly went into a travellers camp - the police called off the pursuit at that point!
Scared of getting hurt. They've told me. People who do not own anything don't seem to get nicked for anything other than major issues.
MD
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It's not just the traditional gipsy/traveller types now. There is apparently a big movement in America of well-off older people who have retired early, ditched the kids years ago, sold up and bought a luxurious motorhome and taken to the open highway. They migrate across the continent, going where their fancy or the weather takes them.
It happens here too. I met a family who were on the point of doing it. The children were home-educated, they were selling their house, so they would have had no fixed address nor need to be based anywhere. In the old days people travelling for long periods would have arranged for their mail to be forwarded to the next post office, Poste Restante I think.
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I tried it in the 90's, sold my house & bought a Hymer + a Carnaby Hacienda 30' caravan on a freehold site (not a parc)
Plan was to buzz orf back to the Sun (Tenerife) come October & return in May but - the plans of mice and men etc., etc.
Re: mail, well - everyone knows someone (even me!) so my mail went to them.
One dream I have is to fly out to Sydney (Hi Syd.) buy a camper van, travel all around the coast of Oz (some distance!) and sell the critter on my return to Syd -*THAT'S* Traveling ;)
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I know a couple who encountered this problem. They retired early and having had a long standing passion for sailing, sold their family house in the UK and bought an ocean going sailing yacht. They more or less live on the yacht now and have done for some years. Usually wintering in the Caribbean and spending their summers in the Med. They have a couple of small trailie type motorcycles on board for use when in ports. In this age of mobile phones and laptop computers it is not so hard to keep on top of their lives. They are not especially rich people but just choose to use the means at their disposal to live as they wish to.
For reasons of practicality though they realised fairly early on that they needed an address somewhere. Bank accounts, driving licences, passports, pensions etc all need to be linked to somewhere. Resultantly they chose to buy the cheapest flat they could find in their home town in the UK. They rarely sleep in it. Their grown up children pop in a couple of times a month to collect and forward their mail and to make sure everything is as it should be.
Not for everyone of course but it sure sounds like it beats going to garden centres and the bowling club.
I am not normally a jealous sort of person but...........
;-)
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 23/08/2009 at 11:22
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I am not normally a jealous sort of person but...........
I am now, sun, total freedom and not a British politician with any influence on your life (how they'd hate that)....bliss, and i wish them all the best for a long life of ease.
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>>I am not normally a jealous sort of person but...........<<
Same here, you dont realise just how much freedom we lack in this country until you see people who have thrown away the 'normal life' concept that takes real guts and commitment to opt out of and go where ever the mood takes them.
I rather like the look of St Kilda, if only one could evict the MOD!
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QUOTE:...""I rather like the look of St Kilda, if only one could evict the MOD!""
I rather like the look of Salisbury Plain, if only one could evict the MOD!
Some of the hippie traveller types really care for their vehicles and appear to keep them in good shape. Of course, others don't
As for modern mainsteam motorhomes, most of them are ugly and ungainly looking because they are based on PLG van platforms but with bloated-out all-white bodies to give maximum interior space and stay cool in hot sun.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 23/08/2009 at 13:30
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@ Stu
It could be St Kilda for you as the MOD are currently consulting on removal of their personnel from the island.
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Ah excellent, maybe its just far enough away from the mainland that one can live in peace - unfortunatly not possible for the islanders who were there, but with todays technology.... no road though!
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Yeah... lots of people used to go to Afghanistan, but they don't any more.
Perhaps that's the MoD's fault too...
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>..sold their family house in the UK and bought an ocean going sailing yacht.
Which is what the wife and I are seriously considering.
A 45 to 55 footer fitted out with huge master cabin, big batteries and tanks, and all the gear to control everything from the cockpit. That's essential when your crew doesn't "do" anchors in case she breaks a nail.
Mail isn't a problem (if you really need it). How much mail do you get that isn't a bill or junk? We'll register our main address as my sister's place in Spain and in every place frequented by yachties there's always a bar or restaurant willing to keep mail for passing boats.
I'd guess that travellers in the UK have a similar system.
Kevin...
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after the first post , asking a senible question , the text of the replies has changed. we all know someone that has retired , sold up and gone on a long vacation, most of those people are law abiding and will leave there details and a foward phone number , and a route plan with either ther children or a friend.
however , as posted above , the "travellers" or gypsies (as we knew them 20-30 yrs ago) don,t.
and as was posted above , have no intention of conplying with UK laws (tax , mot etc) and yet the police turn a blind eye,
am i missing summot here? minority group that is above the law?
can I join this group , or do I have to give an address on the form?
lets stop pussy footing around! if I have to comply with the law , why are they excempt!
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The OP made it quite clear he was NOT talking about an apparently exempt minority;
"Im not so much talking about the criminal element of the community that get so much action on TV, .........
Anyone ever done it?"
as ordinary law-abiding people who for various good reasons might not have a fixed address. The subsequent posts seem to me to be correctly addressing his question.
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Same as every other country, then... just degrees of extremes at either end...
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As tax in general is mentioned, It`s a fact that Travellers pay VAT on their purchases as do the rich and poor.
Often the `honest citizen` of middle class England is the first to be up in arms about a travellers encampment and yet attempt VAT free cash deals with not only Travellers but other `house living` tradesmen too.
I saw it not far from here. A major `wobbly` amongst the middle classes, many of them professionals - when a temporary encampment was set up half a mile away. Yet guess who they had round to do the softfits a few months later? As Traveller gentlemen speaking a soft Irish accent offered cash deals.
A lot of double standards about. The last traveller family I worked with had a taxed car - yet I know `house living` tradesmen, locally to us, who try to duck VAT by operating in a way that they are hard to detect by the Tax Office.
I`m glad this thread didn`t go off the rails with bigotry and that what`s written stays as a permanent record.
Unless HJ wields the axe of course ;-)
All the best!
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"Travellers pay VAT on their purchases "
I would not make such wild assumptions
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