News RSS Feed


Send us your news!


Travellers get free theme park tickets

11:56am Thursday 14th June 2007

comment Comments (31)   Have your say »


TRAVELLERS who face eviction from the illegal Dale Farm site in Oak Lane, Crays Hill, have been given free passes to a theme park where they held a protest.

The residents, who could soon be kicked out from 11 plots at the site, protested outside the Diggerland adventure park in Strood, Kent, because the firm which runs it - HE Services - supplies machines that have been used for to evict travellers from illegal sites.

Travellers also wrote to boss Hugh Edeleanu to ask him not to supply machines for evictions.

In a reply, Mr Edeleanu said he sympathised with the travellers' plight, but would be unable to control the use of all diggers if hirers are involved with third parties, such as bailiffs, who carry out evictions.

He said: "I am sympathetic with the situation.

"I have spoken to our operations director who has voiced his support. He has asked me to pass on ten complimentary tickets."

Traveller campaigner Grattan Puxon, who organised the protest and was planning more demonstrations at other HE Services-run depots, said: "We thank him for the complimentary tickets which have been shared out among parents with special needs children, including the two teenagers who lost their parents in a tragic fire at Dale Farm two years ago.

"We have told Mr Edeleanu we hope we don't see any of his diggers in action again wrecking the homes of travellers."

Diggerland have four parks around the country where kids and adults can sit in and drive bulldozers and heavy plant machinery.

l Royal Mail has said it is in talks with travellers at Dale Farm about reinstating post if gas bottles are removed from the site.

Print article » Email to a friend »

Your Say YourEcho

John, My Desk says...
12:11pm Thu 14 Jun 07

I hope they set up camp in the Diggerland car park, that will teach Mr Edeleanu to sympathise!

Report this post »

Bored, says...
12:39pm Thu 14 Jun 07

At £12.50 a ticket most families wouldn't be able to afford a day out like this, what with travelling expenses and food. It's making a mockery out of hard working people, and those on benefits who stuggle to have a day out with the family. Why should they be given free tickets just because they held a protest there? Good publicity stunt Diggerland!

Report this post »

Confused, Basildon says...
12:40pm Thu 14 Jun 07

The lesson here for everyone is this:
Break the law and you shall be rewarded!
Would it be harsh of me to assume that this day out will take place on a school day?

Report this post »

The Vicar, says...
12:47pm Thu 14 Jun 07

I'm off to Diggerland tomorrow to protest against the treatment of Oompah Loompahs in Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory.

Will I get free theme park tickets do you think?

Report this post »

tina, basildon says...
12:58pm Thu 14 Jun 07

im not after a sypathy vote or anything, but my husband is on incapacity benifit because of a work related injurys and we would love to take our daughter to a thyme park, im going with the vicar to protest about the oompah loompahs aswell, anyone care to join us :)

Report this post »

Basildon Billy, says...
2:10pm Thu 14 Jun 07

WOW! those kids look so happy and exited about getting to ride on the diggers that will smash their homes down in a few weeks time, happy days!

Report this post »

Bored, says...
2:28pm Thu 14 Jun 07

Basildon Billy wrote:
WOW! those kids look so happy and exited about getting to ride on the diggers that will smash their homes down in a few weeks time, happy days!
That's not on, despite what you and I think about the travellers on Dale Farm to make that comment about the kids is just nasty.

Report this post »

Lisa Jensen, says...
4:40pm Thu 14 Jun 07

Good on diggerland, as someone said earlier, it is merely a publicity stunt and if they have been given them free then good for them!!

Report this post »

WillY Wonka, Choc Factory says...
5:18pm Thu 14 Jun 07

I made those Oopah Lumpahs work 20 hours a day for half a curly wurly..Lil green bastards or were they blue, I cant remember..gotta go..Jonny Depp is having a fight with Gene Wilder

Report this post »

The Vicar, says...
5:27pm Thu 14 Jun 07

WillY Wonka wrote:
<b> I made those Oopah Lumpahs work 20 hours a day for half a curly wurly..Lil green bastards or were they blue, I cant remember..gotta go..Jonny Depp is having a fight with Gene Wilder</b>
You're capitalist scum, Wonka!

I'll never buy another everlasting gobstopper again!

Report this post »

Basildon Billy, says...
5:53pm Thu 14 Jun 07

Its a question, they are a close-knit community, when would they ever meet girls outside of their families? why do so many of them have disabled children then? why are there only 4 or 5 diff surnames for 30 or 40 families?

Report this post »

Basildon Billy, says...
5:58pm Thu 14 Jun 07

Because they parade them around like human-shields everytime theres a debate about evicting them

Report this post »

tina, basildon says...
6:19pm Thu 14 Jun 07

i havent ever seen one disabled child of a travellers, so i dont know where you got that from

Report this post »

walby, says...
7:11pm Thu 14 Jun 07

the whole point of this exercise is to get the children used to the diggers, so when they do move in on dale farm they wont be alarmed .
a clever ploy.

Report this post »

Sam, says...
8:02pm Thu 14 Jun 07

They've just had their first lesson in how to get something for nothing (or maybe not their first).

Report this post »

Plotlander, Basildon says...
8:39am Fri 15 Jun 07

"We have told Mr Edeleanu we hope we don't see any of his diggers in action again wrecking the homes of travellers."

Easily solved really - all they have to do is comply with the law and the High Courts and move their homes somewhere legal!

Report this post »

tina, basildon says...
9:15am Fri 15 Jun 07

fred wrote:
What a wicked lot of people you are,and that c..t the vicar what can i say ,he said he was not coming on here a while back well wht dont he just go away the sad little man
erm have i missed something here, i cant see what the vicar has said that is so bad, others have said far worse than him, im sorry but i think that the vicar is a very funny man and i like reading most of his posts, and we are not wicked people :)

Report this post »

Rita, says...
1:20pm Fri 15 Jun 07

Have to disagree with you here Tina. Just read a few posts again on this, and any other traveller stories and you'll see exactly what Fred means. For example, above:

"WOW! those kids look so happy and exited about getting to ride on the diggers that will smash their homes down in a few weeks time, happy days!"

This is written, after (I assume) someone has read the story above containing this quote:

"including the two teenagers who lost their parents in a tragic fire at Dale Farm two years ago". The girl is pictured.

Now, a while back, it was apparently amusing when anyone had a chip-fire or similar in Canvey. Imagine IF two parents had been killed in said fires, witnessed by their two children. Do you, really, think that anyone would put posts of this nature about such a story?

Just a thought....

As Lisa has said before, all this cannot really be considered the "fault" of the children.

Report this post »

tina, basildon says...
4:06pm Fri 15 Jun 07

hi rita; that was basildon billy that said that about the diggers not the vicar, i know he can be a bit near the mark sometimes but he hasnt said anything nasty on this one, some if the other posts are a bit near the mark though arnt they

Report this post »

Angela, Crays Hill says...
8:25pm Fri 15 Jun 07

What are the chances of the Crays Hill Residents getting free tickets for our kids?

Report this post »

Lisa Jensen, says...
9:26pm Fri 15 Jun 07

Probably none Angela, shall I tell you why? Because you are not under threat of the very diggers that they will be seeing are the ones that will be taking down there homes. Personally if it was me and my children I would tell them to stick the tickets where the sun does not shine....

Report this post »

Ethan, UK says...
12:37pm Sat 16 Jun 07

Why not give all the travellers say cup final tickets and champagne limo's to the game.

Then whilst they are sucking down the caviar the camp site can be flattened by the diggers.

September 24th...ssshhh say no more.

Report this post »

Bored, says...
6:18pm Sat 16 Jun 07

Basildon Billy wrote:
Its a question, they are a close-knit community, when would they ever meet girls outside of their families? why do so many of them have disabled children then? why are there only 4 or 5 diff surnames for 30 or 40 families?
In relpy to this comment I asked if Billy had done a survey, wondering why he came out with this theory about disabled children, which I thought was tastless. Strangely MY post was removed, yet if you go on to the story about 'Vicar's escape sex list' you will read Chumshaw's post which still stands????

Report this post »

tina, basildon says...
6:28pm Sat 16 Jun 07

what story is that on bored, i thought that quite a few posts have been removed on other storys as well that shouldnt have been removed while others that clearly should havent, dont make sense does it :)

Report this post »

Bored, says...
6:55pm Sat 16 Jun 07

tina wrote:
what story is that on bored, i thought that quite a few posts have been removed on other storys as well that shouldnt have been removed while others that clearly should havent, dont make sense does it :)
Vicars escape sex list. What do you think Tina, or is it just me?

Report this post »

tina, basildon says...
7:02pm Sat 16 Jun 07

oh yeah i think i know. was it on the southend page :)

Report this post »

Bored, says...
7:06pm Sat 16 Jun 07

tina wrote:
oh yeah i think i know. was it on the southend page :)
Castle Point News

Report this post »

tina, basildon says...
7:16pm Sat 16 Jun 07

sorry bored i hadnt read that story, but i have now, that chumpshaws post was really disgusting, leave me alone with him with a blunt rusty stanley knife and ill deal with him, if you know what i mean :)

Report this post »

Joe, says...
12:22pm Sun 17 Jun 07

Travellers are not allowed to marry non travellers, if they do they are not allowed to live with other travellers, their marriages are arranged when they are children.

Report this post »

Steve, says...
12:50pm Sun 17 Jun 07

These are mobile homes we are talking about, they just have to be put on the back of a lorry and moved off the site, they do not have to be demolished. Travellers often move home taking their mobile homes with them.

Report this post »

jim, says...
12:04am Thu 13 Mar 08

They are living there illegally they buy a bit of land and then think they can plot the land out build walls around it and build on it??? without planning? i'v been on the site before in crays hill and they are irish tinkers and i know for a fact that some of them on there owned land in ireland? they think everyone owes them something for nothin!
and you wanna see the mess they have made on that land a propper **** hole!!

Report this post »

Comments are closed on this article.

Just the ticket - Maryann McCarthy and Jimmy Sheridan have free entry to Diggerland Just the ticket - Maryann McCarthy and Jimmy Sheridan have free entry to Diggerland

In this section

ESSENTIAL LINKS

Sponsored Links



Local Advertisers


Local Information

Enter your postcode, town or place name

House prices »   Schools »   Crime »   Hospitals »