Neil Wainwright, 55, who describes himself as an English gypsy, said he has been on the receiving end of verbal abuse and had food thrown at his camper van from passing cars.

On Thursday (June 21) he was towed out of a nearby small traveller site and left with two wheels up on the curb on the side of a road, immediately outside an industrial estate between Hayle and the village of Angarrack.

He said: “The locals don’t like me being here at all. I am getting abuse at night time, but it’s not my fault. I didn’t ask for any of this.”

Gypsy Neil Wainwright beside his mobile home on the side of the road near Hayle (Image: Greg Martin)

Mr Wainwright, who grew up in Illogan, also claims that Cornwall Council damaged his 1962 vintage British Motor Corporation van when they towed it off a site near St Agnes in 2007.

And to hammer home his point, the former sound engineer has now draped a large banner over his van saying: “Cornwall Council smashed my home”.

Neil Wainwright's mobile home, which he claims was smashed by Cornwall Council when they moved it (Image: Greg Martin)

He is now appealing for the council to find him somewhere else to live.

His said his van was towed away last week from a site a little further towards Angarrack after it was closed by the police and Cornwall Council following a fire which burned down a caravan.

Mr Wainwright was taken up the road and left beside the entrance to Marsh Lane Industrial Estate.

He has already been forced to move from the Wheal Jewell traveller site near St Day after falling out with some of the site’s residents.

Gypsy Neil Wainwright inside his mobile home (Image: Greg Martin)

And he has rejected the offer of a council bungalow in Falmouth, saying that living in a house is against his lifestyle.

He added: “They won’t allow me to live like this, just because I choose to live in my wagon. I can’t live in a house – I am a gypsy.

“Now they’ve left me lifted up on the side of the road and I don’t know what’s going to happen. I wanted to be put on in the middle of the roundabout, but they wouldn’t let me."

He added that he fears if he moves away, his mobile home will be destroyed, adding: “I am scared stiff about what’s going to happen and either someone’s going to burn me out or I’ll get towed away.”

Mr Wainwright also used to live on a private site near Scorrier before the council found him a place at the St Day traveller site.

Cornwall Council has been asked to comment.

via Google News

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