Gypsies and Travellers may experience unfair treatment, or discrimination, from site owners, landlords, councils and other service providers. Find out what you can do if you believe you are being treated less favourably than other people because you are a Gypsy or a Traveller.

What is discrimination?

Discrimination takes place when a person is treated less favourably than another person on one of the grounds prohibited by anti-discrimination laws. These laws are in place to protect people who are treated less favourably on the basis of:

• their race, colour, nationality or national or ethnic origins (racial discrimination)
• their sex
• their sexual orientation
• their religion or belief
• their disability.

Discrimination against Gypsies or other racial groups (who happen to be travellers) is a form of racial discrimination. Many Gypsies and Travellers feel that discrimination against their community is considered more acceptable than discrimination against other races, such as black or Jewish people.

It is illegal to discriminate against someone on racial grounds in relation to the provision of:

• education
• housing and planning
• other public services
• goods, facilities and services.

If someone discriminates against you because you are a Gypsy or Traveller (for example, if a site owner refuses to let you rent a pitch on their site, or a council refuses to accept a homeless application from you or turns down an application for planning permission from you because you are a Gypsy or Traveller), you may be able to take action under equaliites laws. This applies whether you are pursuing a travelling lifestyle on the road, or you are living in settled accommodation but identify yourself as a Gypsy or Traveller.

The law also aims to protect you from victimisation. You should not be treated less favourably because you have made a complaint of racial discrimination against someone, or given evidence in support of another person’s complaint.

Racial harassment

Gypsies and Travellers living on sites and in settled accommodation often experience racial harassment. Racial harassment takes place when a person behaves in a way that is intended to, or has the effect of, violating another person’s dignity, or which creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment - where this behaviour relates to the victim’s race or ethnic and national origins.

This can include:

• verbal abuse, such as name-calling, insults or racist jokes
• vandalism and racist graffiti
• nuisance phone calls, texts or emails
• bullying, intimidation and threats
• physical abuse or violence.

For example, you may experience racial harassment from:

• your neighbours or other people in the community
• staff at the council
• site owners, managers or wardens
• the police.

What can I do if I'm being harassed?

Many Gypsies and Travellers are reluctant to take action against people who harass them, because they fear it may make the situation worse. Many choose to move on, or to abandon their travelling lifestyle altogether and move into settled accommodation. However, some Gypsies and Travellers find that, even in settled accommodation, the harassment can resurface once people in their new community find out that they have a travelling background.

Using the Race Relations Act

Harassment is a form of discrimination so, depending on your situation, you may be able to take action using the Race Relations Act. If you are harassed in your workplace, or during the application process for a job, or if you are harassed by an employee of any public authority or other organisation from whom you are obtaining services, then you may be able to make a complaint of racial harassment using the Race Relations Act.

Getting help from the council or the police

In addition, you can get help from the council or the police. If neighbours or other people in the community are harassing you, the council and police should have procedures in place for dealing with racist incidents and hate crime. It's important to keep a record yourself of any racist incidents or harassment that you or your family or friends are suffering. This is so you can provide details of exactly when and where these incidents took place, including the date and time, together with details of any witnesses when you report them to the council or the police. Such records would also be evidence which you could use in any legal action you take under the Race Relations Act.

If you are experiencing harassment or anti-social behaviour from members of the settled community or anyone else, you should first contact the council's Gypsy and Traveller site manager or liaison officer. The police may also have a Gypsy and Traveller liaison officer you can talk to.

Some councils have a scheme in place which allows 'remote reporting' of racist incidents. This means that you can report the incident to another organisation which you might already have had dealings with and which you trust to pass on the details to the police.

For more information, see our pages on discrimination and harassment.

Problems dealing with the council or the police

If you're concerned that the council or police aren't taking your complaint seriously or don't recognise Gypsies and Travellers as belonging to distinct ethnic groups, talk to an adviser at your local Citizens Advice, use our directory to find an adviser in your area, or contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission. If your complaint is about the council or the police, you can find out more about complaining about the council and police complaints in our complaints section.

What about my human rights?

There are many laws that protect human rights, and these laws can be very important if you're having problems dealing with the council, the police or other authorities.

Public authorities must ensure that everyone's human rights are promoted and respected. This means that when authorities such as the council are making decisions about your situation, they have to take your human rights into account, and balance them against the rights of other people in the community. For example, they must consider your human rights when deciding whether to:

• move you on from an unauthorised site
• grant planning permission for a site on your land
• evict you from your pitch

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