Parts of Great Sankey, Callands, Gemini and Westbrook have been suffering almost continually in recent months from travellers.

These people seem to think they have a divine right to park their expensive caravans, vehicles and associated paraphernalia on land which they do not own and which others have very successfully spent time and money trying to keep respectable.

It is an absolute insult to respectable and law-abiding citizens that these people are able to behave as they do with apparent impunity. I shudder to think what the forces of law would promptly do to me if I were to park my caravan on somebody else's land in the manner these hard-faced individuals do.

I seem to recall Mr Blair promising some while ago that he was going to take action to prevent this menace from blighting other people's lives - alas yet another broken promise.

What I find particularly offensive is that people tell me these itinerants, who I believe make money from block paving, tree-lopping and uPVC gutter installations, apparently pay no taxes on what they make.

They certainly pay no rent for the use of the ground they squat on and obviously enjoy a comfortable lifestyle - I wonder how many of their vehicles are properly taxed and insured and how many state benefits they are in receipt of?

They blatantly dump the waste from their 'work' activities on the land they are illegally occupying with the crowning glory that when they eventually move on the council, no doubt at the expense of honest council tax payers, have to clear away the rubbish and detritus they leave behind. They are apparently able to escape the law because they 'disappear' before a summons can be served.

The only unanswered question is who is it that is foolish enough to let these 'fly by nights' do work for them?

Whoever they are they will not have any comeback when things go wrong and without work to do these types would not have cause to blight areas which we otherwise have good cause to be proud of.

I, and I am sure many others, would like, via your newspaper, some assurances that our politicians and councillors are doing everything possible to deal with this serious social menace.

My name and address are not for publication simply because I don't wish for any inevitable recriminations from the lawbreakers at whom this letter is targeted.

A law respecting

Great Sankey resident

Name & address supplied