Travellers ask Kirklees Council to send binmen round to collect rubbish from car park camp as court orders them to leave - Yorkshire

From the Huddersfield Daily Examiner

TRAVELLERS set to be evicted from a council car park say Kirklees should send binmen to take their rubbish away.

As Kirklees Council lawyers won an eviction order to move Travellers off Springwood car park in Huddersfield, the families have defended the mess they leave behind.

One of the Travellers, who gave her name as Mary Smith, pointed to bulging black bin liners and said: “All our rubbish is bagged up.

“We can’t take it with us so the council should get the binmen to come and move it.

“They send the binmen to people’s houses so why don’t they come round here?”

When an Examiner reporter pointed out that householders paid council tax for their rubbish collected, mum-of-two Miss Smith, 47, said: “Do they? I wouldn’t know.”

Kirklees Council yesterday went to Huddersfield County Court to seek a possession order for Springwood car park where Travellers parked up last Tuesday.

Yesterday there were 14 caravans on the site.

The council was granted the order after a brief hearing before a judge in chambers.

The Travellers will be given 48 hours to move after bailiffs have served an eviction notice.

Travellers had also pitched up on a council car park in Cliffe Street, Dewsbury, but they left on Saturday.

Council taxpayers have questioned why the Travellers are allowed to take over a pay-and-display car park and not be issued with parking fines for not having tickets.

Parking at Springwood costs £2.50 for up to five hours and £4 for 10 hours.

Miss Smith said it was not unusual for Travellers to pitch up on public car parks and just smiled when asked why they didn’t pay to park.

She added: “We have nowhere else to go.

“Councils don’t provide us with proper sites. All we want is a bit of ground with portable loos and a tap. We are treated like animals.”

Miss Smith, brought up in a caravan herself, said she would happily settle down but people didn’t want them on their estates.

She said Travellers’ children missed out on schooling and added: “There is no point putting them into school because they’d go in today and be out tomorrow.”

Asked what sort of education the children received, she said: “They are taught by their parents to read and write.”

Miss Smith, who said their last stop was Leeds but they travelled all over the country, denied the Travellers caused any problems.

“We are no trouble to anyone,” she said, “just ask the local shop.

“Our children go in and buy their sweets and don’t cause any hassle.”

Asked when they planned to leave, she replied: “When they come to move us on.”

see also: The Huddersfield Daily Examiner - Travellers leave Springwood car park