# Tool sharpening scam warning



## Chrispy (11 Aug 2016)

Just a heads up on a tool sharpening scam that seems to be going on at the moment, I just spent the last hour reporting this to the police who don't appear to be doing any thing about it.

Anyway the scam, I just had a visit from a French/Swedish/German man who offers to harden and then sharpen tools drills saws chisels TCT tools as well planer blades etc.
guaranteed to last 10 times longer than before, give a quick demo of how hard the metal gets by chopping into a piece of steel with a chisel he has bought with him.

says he will take tools away harden them and bring them back in three hours as a sample, so intrigued I have given him a worn out TCT saw blade a chisel made from butter metal that won't take an edge and a burnt forsner bit to see what they can do to them.

Now when he went i google the service and find a string of posts about a group of French travelers going around the country working from the back of a lorry sharpening and over charging on returning the tools, sort of tar-mac the drive type scam. 

So it's 2pm now lets see what happens in an hour!


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## Aggrajag (11 Aug 2016)

I wonder if you'll ever see him again?


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## Rorschach (11 Aug 2016)

Sounds like a pile of rubbish to me.


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## nev (11 Aug 2016)

Thanks for the heads up, but

Give something, and not just something but your livelihood tools, to a random bloke that knocks on your door and expect to see it again? :-k 

#-o


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## John Brown (11 Aug 2016)

I had a haircut yesterday at the local barber shop. While I was there, a sales rep was also there, hawking expensive haircutting scissors(minimum around £150, max £who-knows). The woman cutting my remaining few hairs was trying a few different pairs, and mentioned that she'd once given a pair to a stranger who'd walked in off the street. Apparently he'd made a pig ears of sharpening them, and when she complained, he took them away to redo the job, and never came back.
I was astounded. I'd never give a cheap kitchen knife to a travelling sharpener, certainly not a pair of scissors, but a £100 plus pair of haircutting scissors? Some people are very trusting(to use the nice word).


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## Chrispy (11 Aug 2016)

To be honest I hope I don't see them again, cos if I do I now know that I 'll be in for the hard sell / high pressure to pay the inflated bill.


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## RobinBHM (11 Aug 2016)

Ive had these guys come in twice this year, one Belgian guy last week, some French guy earlier in the year.

When I first started out, I gave a mortice chisel and bit to some French guys who said they would make it super sharp. They did bring it back, all black as though it had been stuck in a bonfire! Needless to say it wouldnt cut at all, it was as blunt as anything. When I questioned the guys, they shrugged, shook their heads and said 'it is precision part' and left!! -they didnt try and con me for money

I think these guys just temper the blades which does make them hard but also useless......


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## graduate_owner (11 Aug 2016)

My usual response to any door-to-door person is a polite 'no thank you', what ever if is. I have bought door-to-door stuff in the past and have always regretted it.
Examples of things I did not buy:

A fire extinguisher, well known brand, nothing wrong with it and could save my life according to the very pleasant young lady salesperson. Only trouble was I could buy one from RS for just over half her price, inc. carriage ( and RS are not the cheapest peopls around ).

A generator - the man asked if I would like to by his remaining one to save him taking it back across the Irish Sea, so special deal. I hesitated ( big mistake - NEVER hesitate, just say No). Within less than a minute he had emptied his van on my drive, and was trying to sell me a brush cutter, welding gear, pressure washer etc. I went into the house, had a quick on-line check, and found I could get the same generator on-line cheaper, guarantee etc. So I made him a silly offer - all the cash I claimed I had, which he refused. Then he loaded his van and went away. It was all Chaiwanese stuff anyway, Marksman etc. So even my silly price would probably have been a mistake.

The best one was a guy offering to treat the walls of my house, guaranteed damp proof, 30 year guarantee, tested in Sweden etc etc. Special deal if I agree to have it done. How much? Ah well he couldn't tell me that until I had agreed to have it, but much cheaper than the regular price. So how much is the regular price? Ah well if I tell you that I can't offer you the special deal. ??? Do you honestly think I am going to agree to any of this? No thank you, bye bye.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks for the thumbs up.

K


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## t8hants (11 Aug 2016)

years ago we had some Turks came to the workshop offering the same service. The boss who was as tight as a DA smelt a saving and gave them a whole bunch of worn out Roto-bore cutters. 
Off they went with promises they would be back in a week, we were all giggling that he would never see them again, but as they hadn't charged the boss said all he could loose was a bunch of worn out cutters. 
As promised back they came a week later with the cutters sharpened and clearly heat treated in some way - beautiful!
The real laugh was they charged him by the circumference of the cutter, not by the diameter as he had assumed, (Ass out of u and me time again), but we never did wear those things out again, the company closed first.


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## Chrispy (11 Aug 2016)

Well he came back ( with his mate) and as you said every thing is black as hell the chisel does seem to be a bit harder but time will tell on that one, the drill he said had been treated and sharpened well you can still file it with a saw file so can't be very hard and the sharpening doesn't look impressive and it still leaves a burnt hole in mahogany, the saw blade that has an average 1.2mm of TCT left they insisted i try out by cutting through a block of wood with 10 or so nails in that I provided and as far as I can see has done no damage the the remaining teeth but again the sharpening is very poor and uneven.

Now he wants to take more away to bring back 9am tomorrow. no I want to test this first over time, no good we wont be back for 6 months, OK leave it at that then, OK just pay for what we've done have you a tape, why? £2.85 per centimeter- in circumference! that's not what you said earlier you said about £10 for the saw £2.50 for the drill & chisel, no £2.50 per centimeter, no £2.50 flat.
well just give us £50 and we'll go, no way, I would have paid you what you said but not now, you had better leave, so he asked for his card back and they did, rather quickly. 
Just hope that that's the last I see or hear of them.

BTW I don't think they have heat treated any thing, it looks and smells like liberon patinating fluid.


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## MattRoberts (11 Aug 2016)

Did he see your workshop & tools? Hope not...


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## Chrispy (11 Aug 2016)

I'm hoping that they know to stay on the right side of the law, as iI've been told they haven't committed a crime yet, over charging is a civil matter. Hence the police don't want to know .


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## Hitch (11 Aug 2016)

We had them in last year, offering to regind press tooling, shear blades, drill, broaches, the lot.

To be fair, the hardening process must have been pretty good, one of his demos was taking chunks out of bits of steel angle with a hatchet :lol:


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## clk230 (12 Aug 2016)

I'm surprised the police didn't charge you with wasting their time .


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## bugbear (12 Aug 2016)

Hitch":1jzsx493 said:


> To be fair, the hardening process must have been pretty good, one of his demos was taking chunks out of bits of steel angle with a hatchet :lol:



I wonder if an over-hard axe with a very obtuse bevel would do that trick?

If they genuinely knew a "better" hardening process, they could make a fortune, and wouldn't be wandering door to door.

BugBear


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## DTR (12 Aug 2016)

I'm curious to know how they targeted you. Were they trying their luck door-to-door (commercial premises?) or did they already know you were a woodworker?


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## Phil Pascoe (12 Aug 2016)

Maybe they saw his work somewhere and thought hell, here's a man with blunt tools? :lol:


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## Chrispy (12 Aug 2016)

DTR":122o22yo said:


> I'm curious to know how they targeted you. Were they trying their luck door-to-door (commercial premises?) or did they already know you were a woodworker?


They appear to be going round any businesses that may use cutting tools, country wide. just google sharpening scam and you see all.


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## Chrispy (12 Aug 2016)

phil.p":1b2dpg4x said:


> Maybe they saw his work somewhere and thought hell, here's a man with blunt tools? :lol:


I admit it, there may a few that do need a bit of a tickle up.


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## Jonzjob (14 Aug 2016)

We get loads of forigners, mainly French, some Spanish, here. Almost all of them want to clean our house   

I usually send them away.


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## Phil Pascoe (14 Aug 2016)

We used to get loads of travelers and didicoys (in the early '80s) stop and ask to take dead elms down, or to tarmac the drive. One morning I was on the landing with my mother when we heard a dog bark. We looked out and saw the obligatory Transit parked in the lay by and a guy of about 6'4" face to face with my Doberman, who had decided in her wisdom (and her wisdom was usually exactly that) that he was coming no further. We heard the low growl, we saw the hackles pointing forwards, but it didn't deter him. As he stepped towards her, and there was a bark that those among you who have never heard the serious, meaningful bark of an Old English Mastiff intent on doing her job can only imagine - it seems to come from the centre of the earth. Yes, the mastiff was six feet behind him ... on top of a six foot hedge, crouched ready to jump, looking down on him. It is without any doubt the fastest I have ever seen anyone do our drive and clear a six foot gate.


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## Phil Pascoe (14 Aug 2016)

The funniest offer I ever had was from the a woman who offered to get her son to change the locks on my off licence - he was known to be the biggest burglar in the area.


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## iNewbie (14 Aug 2016)

Now thats what you call doing a favour for a drink...


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## ColeyS1 (6 Sep 2016)

Just had this happen. 
Grey Mercedes reg DA-153 and a few other digits. 





Not sure if he hardens the tools with his breath but I've never smelt anything like it ! Cheers for the heads up. Must be doing the rounds

Coley


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## Eric The Viking (7 Sep 2016)

We had some very well-heeled travellers briefly in residence on Bristol Downs, near us. That was until a fortnight ago, when the council got an eviction order. There were about 25 caravans and other vehicles.

We were impressed by the late-model luxury cars they own, similar to the one above (and other Mercs, BMWs and so on). Plates from France, Belgium, Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe.

I'm not sure where you are, Coley, but it looks as though you've met some relatives of theirs.

E.

PS: That said, apart from the camp they caused practically no trouble and left the place relatively tidy when they left. We were pleasantly surprised, although I wouldn't want it to become a regular thing.


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## Rorschach (7 Sep 2016)

Eric The Viking":16trckmd said:


> We had some very well-heeled travellers briefly in residence on Bristol Downs, near us. That was until a fortnight ago, when the council got an eviction order. There were about 25 caravans and other vehicles.
> 
> We were impressed by the late-model luxury cars they own, similar to the one above (and other Mercs, BMWs and so on). Plates from France, Belgium, Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe.
> 
> ...




You obviously get a better sort than we do! lol


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## Bigron (24 Sep 2016)

Had the scammers walk into the boatyard in Hastings, East Sussex on Thursday , they did the chisel on the scaffold pole trick, took it away with 3 drill bits fetched them back 3 hours later, all nice and sharp, touting for more work, I sent them packing with 4 freshly smoked Mackerel, they were as happy as Larry. Just be aware they are in the Sussex area.


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## Eric The Viking (25 Sep 2016)

Bigron":3676gfuk said:


> Had the scammers walk into the boatyard in Hastings, East Sussex on Thursday , they did the chisel on the scaffold pole trick, took it away with 3 drill bits fetched them back 3 hours later, all nice and sharp, touting for more work, I sent them packing with 4 freshly smoked Mackerel, they were as happy as Larry. Just be aware they are in the Sussex area.



One does wonder... if part of the point is to check out the size of padlock you're using on your shed doors, and where the security cameras are.

I know I'm an old cynic, etc. But then pessimists are the people who have pleasant surprises, whereas optimists only suffer disappointments.

E.


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## Chippie02 (2 Dec 2016)

West Sussex /Hampshire area.


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## Chippie02 (2 Dec 2016)

RE sharpening scam, I did post a picture of him, to help others, but it seems to have disappeared?


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## finneyb (3 Dec 2016)

Eric The Viking":1biw1qmp said:


> Bigron":1biw1qmp said:
> 
> 
> > Had the scammers walk into the boatyard in Hastings, East Sussex on Thursday , they did the chisel on the scaffold pole trick, took it away with 3 drill bits fetched them back 3 hours later, all nice and sharp, touting for more work, I sent them packing with 4 freshly smoked Mackerel, they were as happy as Larry. Just be aware they are in the Sussex area.
> ...



You cynic  and why would he want to do that you can't sharpen padlocks   I know perhaps he wants to have a career in TV - and is starting with CCTV.

Brian
Also a cynic


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## nev (3 Dec 2016)

Chippie02":3cscfdmn said:


> RE sharpening scam, I did post a picture of him, to help others, but it seems to have disappeared?



Pictures of individuals are not required thank you. We'd like to avoid any possible libel/ slander accusations. 

On a personal note:
I think its safe to say that any individual turning up unannounced and offering to take your tools away should be politely told to go away thank you.


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## RogerP (3 Dec 2016)

Many, many years ago when I was kid a chap used to turn up in our area on bicycle fitted with an arrangement that with the bike on its stand pedalling turned a large grinding wheel. He must have done a decent job as many of the locals regularly used him.


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## Andy69691 (25 Feb 2017)

There is always one..........
My maintenance guy fell for this scam and now they are demanding £2600 for "sharpening & coating" about £50 worth of drill bits! When the site manager was confronted by the gypsy he sent him away (after a very long discussion). Now they have tracked down the MD of the company (yes, that's me) and have made nearly 200 calls to my telephone in less than 48 hours. There are veiled threats such as "we want to meet you at your office" and "do you have a family"......... I have had a few discussions on the phone and they guy has offered a £100 discount. Lucky me!
Anyway, no deal as far as I'm concerned but........these guys are VERY intimidating and don't sound like they are interested in going away. They know where my businesses are and, as a company director, I'm not sure if they are smart enough to track down my personal address.
Anyone experienced the same thing? Any advice?


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## Mike Jordan (25 Feb 2017)

Only thieves and con artists sell door to door. It's high time we had a law banning cold calling completely.


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## Keithie (25 Feb 2017)

Andy69691":3hpsphzs said:


> There is always one..........
> My maintenance guy fell for this scam and now they are demanding £2600 for "sharpening & coating" about £50 worth of drill bits! When the site manager was confronted by the gypsy he sent him away (after a very long discussion). Now they have tracked down the MD of the company (yes, that's me) and have made nearly 200 calls to my telephone in less than 48 hours. There are veiled threats such as "we want to meet you at your office" and "do you have a family"......... I have had a few discussions on the phone and they guy has offered a £100 discount. Lucky me!
> Anyway, no deal as far as I'm concerned but........these guys are VERY intimidating and don't sound like they are interested in going away. They know where my businesses are and, as a company director, I'm not sure if they are smart enough to track down my personal address.
> Anyone experienced the same thing? Any advice?



I used to be a voluntary advisor at a Citizen's Advice Bureau. I'm not up to date any more with respect to the law and couldnt recommend anything specific anyway.

The way I would think about your sort of problem is to consider the options.

If you think you are being blackmailed then one option is to contact the police.
Another option is to pay/negotiate ...erm... would that help do you think? I dont think I'd recommend that to anyone!
There may be other options as well, perhaps depending how well you stand with the local community and who you know.
Do you have a legal advisor?
No doubt there are other options.

As a company director with potentially lots of assorted responsibilities you probably ought to do something!
good luck!


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## MattRoberts (25 Feb 2017)

Record the phone conversations and take them to the police.


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## Eric The Viking (25 Feb 2017)

Andy69691":2wnqbf04 said:


> There is always one..........
> My maintenance guy fell for this scam and now they are demanding £2600 for "sharpening & coating" about £50 worth of drill bits! When the site manager was confronted by the gypsy he sent him away (after a very long discussion). Now they have tracked down the MD of the company (yes, that's me) and have made nearly 200 calls to my telephone in less than 48 hours. There are veiled threats such as "we want to meet you at your office" and "do you have a family"......... I have had a few discussions on the phone and they guy has offered a £100 discount. Lucky me!
> Anyway, no deal as far as I'm concerned but........these guys are VERY intimidating and don't sound like they are interested in going away. They know where my businesses are and, as a company director, I'm not sure if they are smart enough to track down my personal address.
> Anyone experienced the same thing? Any advice?



Very simple answer: what they are doing is CRIMINAL at many levels: extortion or "demanding money with menaces" probably being the worst of it (it's not blackmail, incidentally).

They cannot find out your home address from CoHo, _unless_ you have been a director (of one or more companies) for many years, and if you have a good accountant. The law changed on that a while back, such that your trading address can now be the directors' "service" address... but earlier filings WILL have your home address listed (I research companies as part of my job, and use this all the time to find links between companies that people try to conceal). There's nothing practical you can do about that.

Because this involves a firm rather than a private individual (unless your maintenance guy is self-employed), you don't have some of the consumer law protections, but if what you say is true (I'm not doubting you, but you may not have had a complete or accurate account from others), these people are full-on criminals. 

The fact remains this should be, and usually is, treated as serious crime by the police.

I'd ring the non-urgent number for your local force, explain, and ask to talk to a warranted officer about it (not a civilian), and that you want to press charges if possible.

I have family members in the police, but unfortunately they're not around this w/e otherwise I'd ask them for advice (and anyway they're not in your force area, and all forces work slightly differently to each other).

Three important things:
1. You want them dealt with for your own peace of mind, and to avoid expense too.
2. If they succeed with you they'll continue - who might they try next?
3. Chances are, the police already have them on record, so catching them might be a lot easier than you think. 

If you have security cameras recording, and they're on there, keep the recordings!

E.


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## Chrispy (25 Feb 2017)

For what it's worth, before they returned the sharpened goods as by then I just knew what was going to happen, I tried reporting this to the police only to be told that so far they haven't committed an offense so the police were powerless to help, this got me thinking and realized that yes they were working on the edge of the law without actually breaking it so probably wouldn't go through with those threats as this would be their demise.


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## Eric The Viking (25 Feb 2017)

I was lastly replying to Andy69691, and in his decription, they have made serious, criminal threats. They were committing a criminal offence in merely hinting at violence or other harm, either to people or property. 

Proving that is another matter, of course, but, in my experience the police have a good idea of who the scammers are. Quite often even if your evidence isn't enough on its own, it might well be enough to get a confession under questioning, along the lines of, "... and we have video recordings of you doing exactly the same thing at XXX limited, and YYY limited, and their directors are quite willing to testify..."

If we don't pursue this with the police, we're just passing the problem onto someone else, and the more attractive the crime is the more persistent the criminals will be.

People who do this are crooks, plain and simple, and probably do other nasty things too. If ypi get through to the right part of the police service (and that is indeed getting more and more difficult), you should find they are interested.


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## Andy69691 (25 Feb 2017)

Thanks guys - some good comments. I'm in touch with the police - will see where/how that goes and hopefully Eric The Viking is spot on and these guys are known to the police already. In the meantime, I've no plans to talk to the gypsy again unless the police want me to record something. I also tend to agree with Chrispy in that they are too "clever" to actually break the law. Either way, I'm not going to give these scum even one penny.
The guy must have had a lay in this morning as I've only had 5 calls from him so far today!


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## Keithie (25 Feb 2017)

Good that you're talking with the police Andy. You mightwant to talk to your legal advisors as well. I obviously dont know if your company has entered into a legal contract (verbally or otherwise) with these folk who you say are calling you. If it turns out that you have (and if you've been 'negotiating' a discount with them as you seem to say here (ie publicly) then it might well be inferred that you have already acknowledged that a contract exists) then it might be that your legal advisor would tell you that your company has a liability to pay an amount. I dont know. Getting professional advice is usually a good idea for a company director.

Also, I dont know who your telephone service provider is, but if it happens to be BT then you might be interested to read about their new 1572 nuisance call blocking service. I have no idea if it's appropriate for a companyto block calls from possible creditors though.. 

http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/tech-ne ... 4136279348


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## MacMachinist (29 Jan 2018)

Beware this scam is happening now in the West Sussex area,
Was going to put 'very clever' but thinking about it No!! its just me i am F###### Stupid, feeling sick right now.
"Scumbags" 
Now anyone comes knocking is going to get "F### Off"


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## Joiner Reg (2 Jun 2018)

It's now going on in the herts / essex area, I have had them in this past week and expecting them on Monday. They don't take no very well so will have to be a bit more forceful when they next come


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## Nun of ya Biz (15 Apr 2019)

Ok, peeps..well this scam is back on the road...this time in Bristol. We were caught out approx 4 years ago. They tried to charge is £850 for £50 worth of work...in then end we paid just over £100 to get rid. To add insult to injury, they attempt to add VAT to their invoice (despite being registered as a Swedish company) strangely they backed down on the VAT issue! 

This morning I had a call from another biz in the area saying they were just scammed...then sure enough 5 mins later one of their 'reps' turned up to try and swindle us outta more moula. Seems they don't log who they've scammed before...they simply rely on time being a great healer. 

The (seemingly endless) phone calls & visits are menacing, but they stay 'just' on the right side of the law. They imply all sorts of bull - that they're gypsies who'll come and park on your property (tap into yer lecky, use it as a dumping ground), their 'boss' won't be happy & that the person who under costed the original job has been beaten up and they wouldn't want this to happen to you or your family...they even bring a child onto the premises, pretending that they fear for the safety of their own family. Seven year old little Oliver is obviously on some kinda 'see how to Daddy scams others' work trial. 

They go under the biz name of Bortech or DN Repairs, Eastern European, Silver Mercedes. Please notify as many businesses as possible.


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## Nun of ya Biz (15 Apr 2019)

ooh and bortec (whithout the 'h')


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## Trevanion (15 Apr 2019)

We tend to get some very dodgy Irish people (Sorry to the decent Irish people) come across on the ferries trying to sell tools of very questionable origin. Since there is quite a large tradesman van burglary crisis in Ireland at the moment I assume that's what all of these tools are, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole no matter how cheap they are.


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## Phil Pascoe (15 Apr 2019)

Mmmm ......I had an Irish gentleman try to sell me an industrial sized generator, brand new, that he happened to have "left over from a show". This at the end of a cul de sac off a side road in a very small Cornish village. I went indoors and checked in the mirror to make sure I didn't have effing silly person tattooed across my forehead. :lol:


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## RobinBHM (15 Apr 2019)

phil.p":2z706pf7 said:


> Mmmm ......I had an Irish gentleman try to sell me an industrial sized generator, brand new, that he happened to have "left over from a show". This at the end of a cul de sac off a side road in a very small Cornish village. I went indoors and checked in the mirror to make sure I didn't have effing silly person tattooed across my forehead. :lol:



Generators from irish gentlemen is a known scam.

You wont be surprised to know the generators are Chinese scam copies, that either dont work at all or only last a few minutes.


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## Noel (15 Apr 2019)

Trevanion":273mkx3k said:


> We tend to get some very dodgy Irish people (Sorry to the decent Irish people) come across on the ferries trying to sell tools of very questionable origin. Since there is quite a large tradesman van burglary crisis in Ireland at the moment I assume that's what all of these tools are, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole no matter how cheap they are.



PM me I can do very good deal on..... : )
I used to get the carpet boys, the "we'll paint your roof sir" boys etc, not so much now but still see and hear about the tool merchants either stolen or counterfeit. Supposed to be a specialised police squad but, well, with cutbacks hear very little about them these days.
Makita was a favourite, or at least some things vaguely similar in a teal colour.
Hadn't heard a bout the van crisis, although it's generally always been a crisis.


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## Trevanion (15 Apr 2019)

Noel":3lwsqzdp said:


> the "we'll paint your roof sir" boys



Those boys used to get quite a bit of work around this way as a lot of farmers didn't have the time / ways to be able do it and the boys that were going about doing it were pretty fair on price, I remember they used to use basically a long-handled broom and would stand at the apex of a shed/barn and sweep the paint down the side whilst precariously overstretching themselves over the edge. I think a few years ago one of the boys actually fell off the roof and died which resulted in a massive court case and the farmer ended up going to prison if I remember correctly.

These days pretty much every farmer has some form of a telehandler with a man cage attachment so it's pretty easy and quick to do it themselves.


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## Eric The Viking (15 Apr 2019)

Like the Nun above, we live in Bristol: we have (nominally) Irish tinkers just arrived on the Downs again, over the weekend... 

... We went for our usual Sunday afternoon walk yesterday and there was a foul smell coming from something boiling, next to a table with a bench grinder on it, alongside one of the caravans. 

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the scam doesn't emanate from there - I was going to ask exactly the question you have just answered in your posting.


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## Noel (15 Apr 2019)

Eric The Viking":wzh7bavr said:


> Like the Nun above, we live in Bristol: we have (nominally) Irish tinkers just arrived on the Downs again, over the weekend...
> 
> ... We went for our usual Sunday afternoon walk yesterday and there was a foul smell coming from something boiling, next to a table with a bench grinder on it, alongside one of the caravans.
> 
> I wouldn't be at all surprised if the scam doesn't emanate from there - I was going to ask exactly the question you have just answered in your posting.



It's Travellers or The Travelling community these days.
As I alluded to up above, some good, some bad. Some are the nicest and accommodating sort of folk you'll meet, others are complete whatevers and leave anywhere they've been like an open sewer. I think most of them in GB could be classified as English rather than Irish but not really that important, purely a trivial point.


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## Eric The Viking (15 Apr 2019)

In this case they are Irish. Their Mercedes estate cars and the caravans have Irish plates, although I have no idea how often they change them (the number plates I mean). 

As for the morality etc., it seems to be the same group that were only removed by injunction last year, illegally in exactly the same spot. The Downs byelaws are on signage less than 100 yards from their camp: no overnight camping, no vehicles no open fires...


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## Phil Pascoe (15 Apr 2019)

The "travellers" living around here aren't Irish, they're just dirty thieving scumbags. An acquaintance, a big lad, had his whacker stolen from his truck. He saw them do it and knowing that police wouldn't go onto their site he followed them. He stood by the newest car (a Merc, as it happened) with a six foot piece of scaffold tube and called one of them over. You've got two minutes to put the whacker back on my lorry, or I smash the cars one by one and anyone's heads who get in the way until I get it. He got it. :lol:


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## SammyQ (15 Apr 2019)

We had two of ‘de travellers’ try to force their way past me in my open (6 bar) gateway “ta just touch up yer tarmac loicke”..I am 6 ft (pre-decimal) and when my two sons, who are both taller than me and have represented their country athletically, strolled out to flank me and (temporarily) bar the gypos exit, the look of sheer panic on their faces was priceless. Good day’s work...

Sam


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## Phil Pascoe (15 Apr 2019)

Some years ago I was standing with my mother looking out of one of her upstairs windows. We saw a flat bed transit pull up in the layby and a chap get out - this was in the early '80s and there wasn't a week go by without a gypo offering to take down a dead elm or tarmac the drive. We watched him (he was a big lad, about 6'4") open the farm gate, shut it and walk down the drive until he came face to face with my Doberman. We saw the sunshine gleaming on her rising hackles and wondered whether he would take his chances. A minute or so went by and we heard the bark ............the bark of an English Mastiff standing on top of a six foot hedge directly behind him, crouching to jump (if you've not heard a mastiff bark seriously they sound as if they come from the bowels of the earth  ). I have never to this day seen anyone run so fast and vault a five bar gate. :lol:


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## Nun of ya Biz (16 Apr 2019)

The tool scammers in Bristol at the mo are definitely not Oirish. I'm guessing they are Eastern European. Look out for a Silver Mercedes WW8 90GA...though as someone commented, I guess they change/have false plates.


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