Scottish Traveller faces eviction after bedroom tax imposed on Traveller site

From the Travellers' Times

SCOTTISH Traveller Fiona Townsley is facing eviction after Perth and Kinross Council imposed a bedroom tax on her site - and she refused to pay, arguing that the charge does not apply to mobile homes and that it would indirectly discriminate against her on grounds of her race.

The tax – officially called “under occupancy tax” – means people of a working age in social housing who have a spare bedroom will find housing benefit claims reduced by about £40 to £80 a month.The hated tax, brought in by the Conservative and Liberal Coalition Government, is affecting over half a million people across the United Kingdom.

Mrs Townsley, who cares for her elderly mother who also lives on the site, says: “I refused to pay it. All the other chalets are three-bedroom as well, so I cannot move to a smaller chalet on the site. The council would not replace my chalet with a one bedroom chalet. I also offered to move back into a trailer on the site, but they refused that as well.”

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