A new study finds travellers continuing to suffer discrimination. Anne Johnstone reports
What would you think if you saw a notice on the door of a hotel that read: ''No Blacks or Asians''? How would you feel if someone turned you away from a bed and breakfast saying: ''We don't take Jews. There's another place down the road for your type''?
Outrageous? Not the sort of thing you'd see or hear in Scotland in 1998? A report out today shows that one of Scotland's smallest racial minorities still faces just such blatant discrimination.
Scotland has between 10,000 and 15,000 traditional travelling people. As a distinct group, with its own cultural tradition, a long shared history, and distinct social customs, they fall squarely within the definition of an ethnic group under the 1976 Race Relations Act.
The official Government policy towards travellers is one of ''toleration'', but research by Save the Children Scotland shows this policy is regularly ignored by the police and some local authorities.
Unlike in England, local authorities in Scotland have never had a statutory obligation to provide sites for travellers. Instead each is encouraged to reach a ''pitch target'' set by the Scottish Office. The current target is 927, including 201 counted as being available on private parks.
Before local government reorganisation, some regions, notably Strathclyde, made strenuous efforts to meet their quota. Districts which failed to come up with pitches were forced to pay towards sites elsewhere in the region.
But there has always been confusion about the location and number of private spaces, as the Scottish Office doesn't make the list available to travellers.
After hearing anecdotes about travelling families facing blatant discrimination on caravan sites, Save the Children Scotland asked two members of staff to investigate. Posing as Mr and Mrs Average, they appeared at various sites in 12 local authority areas during a quiet time of year and requested a pitch. No problem. On the same day a travelling family with a similar caravan arrived to face a very different reception:
n 27 of the 43 caravan parks refused the travellers a pitch.
n Even half the local authority-owned sites turned them away.
n Some parks displayed signs with messages such as ''No Travellers''.
n Some site owners gave justifications such as: ''The grass isn't suitable for Transits''. Others made overtly racist remarks such as: ''We don't take gypsies''.
n In East Renfrewshire, listed by the Scottish Office as providing 12 pitches for travellers, the travelling family was told only ''residentials'' were accepted, not ''tourers''.
n Highland Council, listed by the Scottish Office as having 20 private pitches, said it had no knowledge of any of them.
There's also an iniquitous twist. Even when access to a site is denied, pitches on it are still counted as available to travellers, who then become subject to criminal charges if they try to stop for the night in a lay-by. So current policy appears to be legitimising the harassment of travellers.
The Scottish Office says the report paints a misleading picture because it concentrates on sites intended largely for tourists. ''It does not appear to recognise that there are sites that cater only for travellers,'' says Minister of State Calum MacDonald.
Travellers argue that traveller-only sites tend to fill up with those who have dec-ided to settle down because they are designed as medium to long-term tenancies. Traveller families label them ''reservations''. Those who are trying to keep up their nomadic tradition are constantly being driven back on commercial sites.
MacDonald also says that the Government makes available up to #1m per year for local authorities to buy land for sites. Moreover, the work of the advisory committee (which comprises Scottish Office officials and travellers' representatives) is due for a complete review next year.
The Scottish Office also casts aspersions on the charity's choice of sites surveyed, but researchers say they visited 35 such sites spread across a dozen local authority areas, a sizeable sample by most standards.
Alison Davies, director of Save the Children Scotland, says: ''The Scottish Office should examine site provision as a matter of urgency because it is obviously not being made available to traveller families in the majority of cases. If you're in a situation where your family is going to be moved on, often forcibly, the children are being thrust into confrontational situations.
''They're being given the message that they aren't wanted. If you can't stop where you want to, you can't get to the shops, to the doctor's, or to school and they suffer that way, too. Many of the basic rights of these children are being breached.''
Save the Children wants the Scottish Office to review its travellers' policy and the National Pitch Target, as well as cast a critical eye over the accuracy of its data. A list of the location and number of private spaces available to travellers should be published. At present they have to rely on word of mouth.
Martin Verity, senior officer in Scotland for the Commission for Racial Equality, acknowledges that though travellers are often subject to harassment, they aren't perceived as being victims of racism because of widespread ignorance about traveller culture.
''People don't see it that way, but if you can't live your life the way others can without being discriminated against, that's as important as racial discrimination against any other group. I hope this report will encourage people to become aware of their rights and bring cases to us.'' He says his organisation would consider taking legal action against sites erecting ''No Travellers'' notices.
Anyone tempted to turn away a traveller with what amounts to a racist remark would be advised to study the 1994 case of Ms E Blackley v The Market Hotel, Perth. In an out-of-court settlement the lady received #2000 compensation after bar staff refused to serve her because she was a traveller.
The case received little publicity, and discrimination against travellers continues unabated. Mary, a traveller all her life and now mother of three young boys, has recently moved into a house after being turned away from numerous caravan sites: ''It was disgusting. It was unbelievable. At one they said to us, 'There's a site for your type of people down the road.' In one place they wouldn't even allow us in to turn round. They said there weren't enough pitches when we could see full clear that there were plenty of pitches.
''So you go on the roadside and you're not there two minutes before the police are moving you on. You're not getting a chance to get your bairns to school or for medication. Sure, they get upset. So do I.''
n Failing the Test is available from Save the Children Scotland, 2nd Floor, Haymarket House, 8 Clifton Terrace, Edinburgh EH12 5DR.
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