Freeloaders

THESE Bargees Travellers are a bunch of freeloaders who don't want to pay for moorings to stay in the same place or pay council tax for the council services that they are using, writes Kelvin Alexander-Duggan.

Islington Tower Hamlets and Hackney councils which the Regents Canal and Lee Navigation run through are seeing a increasing demand for services from the towpath squatters.

Causing major problem

Fly tipping of human waste in public waste bins close to the canal and river in Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Islington has became a major problem for council waste staff, when one of these bags burst open. Human faeces are classed as bio-hazardous waste.

Which means that equipment has to be cleaned and disinfected before it can be used again, which is costly and it causes delays. It's not just bins where it has been dumped, bags of waste have been thrown into people's gardens. Rats are also becoming a major problem since the arrival of large numbers of towpath squatters.

People living in houses along side the canal have been abused when they make a compliant. They are having to keep their windows closed to keep out the smoke coming from what ever these boats are burning for fuel and the racket from two stroke generators for what seems to be running 24/7.