most people don't understand who gypsies are and not all the same we can live in a house or all the Travelers right it's not a lifestyle we're an ethnic minority some of us are Roman Gypsy some of us are Travelers some of us like School some of us want to live at 11 years old our words is changing we are the future generation this is our story [Music] [Applause] 12-year-old Roman EG Gypsy Ben takes great pride in his home a traveler site in Nottingham I live here with my mom dad brother and sister and dog you got loads of space you can do whatever you want I love it here unfortunately away from the site life's not so amazing for them a victim of bullying he's been forced to move schools no Fe fewer than nine times it's a big number nine skools no one should have to go to nine schools because of who they are this is my shell what we have here is the living room kitchen area I wasn't at quite a good school before and then when the Gypsy thing got out people would shy away from me this one person says to me oh no you're a jipper we can't be friends you'll you'll robbed me blind he's had a lot of prejudice it's a good job Ben's strong as he is because many a kid would just crack under that sort of pressure and that pressure is showing no signs of decreasing Friday afternoon and Mom Natalie has just received an all too familiar call just had a phone call from the school to tell me that Benjamin's been attacked by another boy he's been pushed over and he's got a bump on a graze on the back of his head because of his ethnicity he's had problems where he's been called racist names um he's been verbally attacked and things like that he just worries here your heart sinks when you're being called into school to go and pick your child up and all you wanted to do is go and get an education hi yeah do we know what we got to the bottom of what's happened yet do we know we've isolated the student we're taking statement as soon as we've got all the statements together yeah then we make a decision thank you come on then so you've had a horrible day then God love you it's quite a lump isn't it so what actually happened then you sat down on the table M yep and then there's this SLB walks up to me yeah it says why have you started on my friend yeah and then um I've said who's your friend I don't do you know do you even know this boy no so then what happened I stand up to ask him if he can leave me and then he grabs me around my shoulders and throws me on the floor dear God and that's how you got the bump on your head yeah there does come a point in life where you're taking your kids to school and your heart's in your throat because you're thinking what's going to happen today Ben's sister 13-year-old Anastasia has also experienced bullying at school but today her mind is on Ben it makes me feel really upset during the today I'm going to be worrying whether Ben's had an issue or not cuz I don't know whether people have started to fight on him in the past when I've made some nice friends I go is it all right if I'm a traveler and they go no and then stop being my friend makes me feel bad that I have to ask someone if I'm okay to be their friend if I am from a different Community I thought did it I'd rather go to school as Ben the 12-year-old boy not Ben the gy [Music] Olivia is nine and she's an Irish traveler she lives on an illegal site in Ireland with her cousin Alicia that's Kevin this is my sister this my cousin Alicia I've been here for I think it's 3 months or something before living on this car park Olivia and her family were living on a council run site called Woodlands Park but they were all [Music] evicted we got put out and we got moved here it was better than here because it wasn't messy like here the eviction was carried out due to health and safety concerns and a perceived fire [Music] risk but health and safety is still a problem for Olivia this retail car park next to KFC is far from ideal the 12 families are living without running water or toilets and now life is about to change [Music] again a council truck has just arrived Olivia and her friends are about to be evicted again we're getting put out this one now where are we going to live [Music] now in Ireland 9-year-old Olivia and 11 other families are just hours from another eviction I'm making a house it's kind of like a mansion [Music] with a severe shortage of dedicated sites in the UK and Ireland it's almost inevitable Travelers will end up stopping on privately owned [Music] land the youngest person living on the car park is 4-month Old Monroe her father is 22-year-old Kieran this me daughter her was born on the day we got evicted very very angry that day because that was our home like with nowhere else to go then after that that's very very hard you no facilities no showers none we have to go to the gym pay to the gym every day if you want to have a shower and stuff like that me my daughter and her little cat sleeps in here I don't get to um have my own room I've to sleep inide bed my sister and she kicks me sometimes eat your breakfast I'm going to drop you to school Olivia and Alicia have not been able to attend school regularly since the eviction said school's over today yeah we have to go and get a Graduation I miss school I don't get to learn a lot anymore I like learning a lot math is my favorite subject I miss my teacher and my friends and it's making me feel very sad she's taking us to scho for Gru do you want to move all the time no why not because it's kind of um like tiring and like going to places new is kind of weird the council have left Boulders around the perimeters of the car park to prevent Travelers pulling onto the land again they put this out in a couple of days so have to move on to the side of the road now until we find somewhere else to go again the lry he's put us away from this site now with all the big rocks what do you think about that I don't know why he's putting away from this side now Olivia Alicia and 11 other families are waiting for the police to arrive and start the eviction 8-year-old English traveler Jack Joe lives on an authorized site in Essex but his Will's also been disrupted by eviction as he lived next door to Dale [Music] Farm I did have friends who used to live up that road in Dale Farm but then the counil took them all away [Music] I think it was because you wasn't allowed to live up that road or something they didn't do anything wrong and now we've got none of them to play with Dale Farm was Britain's largest illegal traveler site although the family's own the land they were never able to secure Planning Commission the eviction cost the taxpayer over7 million we used to play a lot of football and able to come over and build stuff with us it was really fun to have all my friends nearby but then they all got kicked [Music] off you ever get worried that you're going to get moved on no because they can't do that because this is a prop a place here what we've bought when I grow up I want to be invol with the government so that I can give the word to other people that Travelers are good people give them another chance oh I think the council wouldn't think of Travelers being very good I'm a traveler but I'm not a bad person I call Travelers Lu for Jack Joe he still has a few friends left 10-year-old twins Johnny and Abraham also live on the site and are here to stay we like where we live because there's loads of space we can play all the time we're never bored around here cuz we've always got something to do what did you guys get up to when you're around here Mischief oh yeah what sort of Mischief shooting guns stuff like but not at people at home is a huge playground for the boys with three acres of land for them to do whatever they want [Music] on that's my n's house and that's where my mom and dad lives up the field we have a horse too the boy's Granddad bought the like 30 years ago and they live with two dogs eight puppies a sheep called sha and two miniature shat and ponies that brown white one is called Sparky the miniature shetland's cross fella Bella the smallest poost in the world we bought with shettler ar said it didn't fit him so we have to make him on out rope we need to buy really smaller heart harness desperate to get back in the saddle the boys will have to find a miniature harness for a miniature [Music] sh like Jack Joe and the twins Ben is also happy it's living on a site for very different reasons living a house was hard one incident that we have there was petrol left at the bottom of the staircase with a match inside it not lit and then we had this van and people have gone in through the night and carved in you uh Jippo bastards leave felt worried going to sleep knowing that maybe tonight it's going to be a really weird person that's going to come in and kill us and we w't no more now we're leaving Ben and his family left their house and have made this site their home this is the Tiki Bar the beer pumps here not connected yet and uh this is the karaoke set and what's your karaoke song would you like to sing my go-to sh would be that's life by Frank actra this is a SAA seats two people it's a giant sweat box just going to show you the hot tub it's empty at the moment cuz um in the middle of cleaning it you feel I do feel lucky to live here yes because all the luxures and the space and there's no one around so you can do your own thing I think that's [Music] amazing Ben's had to move house to feel safe and now he's left school for the same reason we went into school to have a meeting because Benjamin was put into what they call protected learning time which is basically isolation man up I feel safer at home I don't have to worry about if this boy's going to cause a problem with me if I'm going to get into a fight if someone's going to knock me down again get back [Music] in I've got to fight through my school life all nine schools I've been to no one should have to go through nine schools because of who they are thank you he's being isolated from his peers I feel like I've lost all trust in the whole system I feel a bit upset when when I get punished for something that I've done nothing wrong in our view I don't feel we've had any other alternative Choice other than to take Benjamin away from that environment temporarily I will be at home learning an hour a day they sold all clothes that they men bedded mended Ben's academic ability for his age doesn't represent 12 years his academic ability is more of like a N9 or a 10 year- old and that's because he's had so many interruptions in his education I've carved a new leg for that chair D and what would you like to be when you're older I'm want to be a pilot to become a pilot I need to do maths with my coordinates and map Reading and I need to do English legally I can become become a qualify pilot at 18 and I can get my license at 16 my goal is to get it at 16 so I need to work work hard to make sure I get that M what does the end mean basically what it means is that she really it's like it's like saying they're longing to do something somebody's really waiting to do something they really want to do it I think that's what it [Music] means Gypsies and travelers are four times more likely to be excluded from school than other groups bullying and racism is one of the main reasons why they often don't do as well as they should at school I deal with attendance issues people don't realize they are allowed to keep the children out of school for up to 100 days a year if they're traveling for work the school record it as a te for traveler in the register but actually lots of traveler families are fined for low attendance their lifestyle might be that they have a lot of freedom to roam around to be active to do practical things and therefore you know sitting down and is something they find difficult so what can be perceived as very bad behavior is often just High Spirits and not being used to what's expected of them in [Music] school they're not meant to move Ben's experience of bullying is not unique double jab hook many traveler children experience problems at school because of their identity tell me about your friends at school they all bullying me and they keep calling me py my dad he started taking me boxing and now like most people in school are quite scared of me so now they just like talk to me like I'm a gger you can't just let them like they all horrible you you got to fight back fighting back is something the twins Uncle Tony knows all about he's a professional Champion cage fighter the person that I would like to be when I'm older is like Tony I want to be Tony thei with a load of belts where am I going to have fight her she we make me a cage in it yeah let's let's make a big cage I'll buy some mesh Tony's four-year-old son Rudy lives with his three-year-old sister Delilah and mom Danielle she's an xpage 3 model and not a travel tomorrow Rudy will get to watch his dad in a professional cage fight for the very first time okay fighting darl darl I'm coming for you darl A big tomorrow offers another first for Rudy he will also be his dad's mascot and lead him into the cage so are you going to walk Daddy out on Saturday to the music don't hit me and so are you excited or are you nervous nervous why are you a bit nervous because I am are you nervous about walking in M or are you nervous that Daddy might get Hur D might get Hur I do the children's cbox in and I watch daddy you like training with your Daddy yeah and what does it feel like when you're watching daddy fight cool he gets the to this will be Tony's first fight in 8 months T anything you like to say you're back in the cage K1 again you've been a long time out what do you want to say to your fans well after sorry for the long delay people but I'm back now and I'm in business and I'm now reformed as a gypsy superhero Tony has just been released after serving 8 months in a high security prison but just days from from his return fight he's been attacked how are there there's feuded at the bottom of the site I don't know about and my brother's down there run down there and got shot in the face near got my finger chopped off shete see that there that was nasty I got to fight tomorrow with that he look at me R all I to think about was obviously my kids and how I want to be so make sure that they don't anything like this never happens to them pretty much let me Tony here's going to it's going to be all right for him to see your cage fight tomorrow isn't it well yeah obviously they watch enough wrestling on tell don't they yeah so I just like going and watch the wrestling now he's old enough he likes wrestling he likes yeah he's into that he wants to go boxing he he got him a Kate suit now I think it's the perfect time to bring him along so so let's see tomorrow how he is he a little bit nerve-wracking though don't do that again Tony has strong opinions on how to raise his son there he is mothers him too much he's got to be prepared for the outside world prepared for the outside world traveling women they let the men take care of the son pretty much to bring him up a little bit felt from when I was in prison to when I come out of prison everything I said to him he just wasn't listening to to a word that I'd say and that's the reason that really they should just leave to the man bring a boy up to be into a man with flower T's always always at me you baby and you spoiling I don't you know what it's like when you're a mom you just feel like your kids are like more safer with you TR you gives my kids so many sweats if it wasn't for me you wouldn't have no time left would [Music] you give me a kiss give me a [Music] kiss good night I do actually think it is too young to go to cage fight but he watches all his his dad's fights on the Telly and he wants to do cage fighting when he grows up how do you think he's going to cope when he sees his dad get hit tomorrow oh my god do you know what I haven't actually really thought of these things [Music] it's 8:30 a.m. in dondor and time has run out for Olivia and her family the police have arrived to evict all 12 families from the car park it's the second time Olivia has been evicted in 6 months to Shield the children from more distress Olivia's mom has moved her to a smaller car park around the corner we left late last night cuz we knew what was going to happen but the guards came in last night and said look you're it's private property you'll only be left here for a couple of days at the eviction site tension is growing between The Travelers and the police I I make out they safe and I have to bring her out here the film crew are also ordered off the carart by the police ask tobac after right's the 22-year-old Kieran is arguing to save his family's home har out of I don't want you around me stay away from me telling stay away from me disorders and I up stay away from me everybody I I I promise I promise you they're lifting like other people's homes up and trying to to them away it's hard to keep moving and moving and moving it's kind of sad like where you're getting put out your home we want to know where you're as the situation escalates the police arrest Kieran they also seiz two trailers one of which belongs to a mother who's at hospital giving birth she she's just gone in to have a baby so now she's got no home to to with a newborn baby in hospital having her baby yeah oh I P you now yeah I P you and I we bad but that's that's just disgraceful that's just [Music] beyond Olivia and these families are homeless again left to search for a new site to call home a vict is it's like evacuation the council and the police treats them Travelers wrong I really like this place and if I got vict if I got evicted from it I wouldn't be happy the place has to get like these big machines with a little thing on them with a to bar or destroy their homes if they have a sh me I think that's just evil because gypsies have done no wrong they should stay where they're supposed to stay you don't need a little mother when you've gotten Al likes a lot of grass in Essex Jack Joe and the twins are doing their daily chores and tending to the horses why do you like horses boys because it's something that a traveler would have because they noise and when we're older we got to start breaking horses in the boys have ordered a harness for their favorite horse Sparky so they can teach it to pull a cart it's an important step if they're going to learn how to train and sell horses how P the horses to Travelers J very important because when they have FES if you sell the FES you get a lot of money from them while Sparky is out of action the twins are using their building skills to make a firing range lift it then I'm lifting it must be as weak as a pensioner shut up when we ra deer we usually play with like BB guns and catapults and bone arrows now let's go get a piece of wood that is one key oh that's it how was that no no no no no no John how was that going to that's just made it even more want no it's not it's on the stick we're always play with Jack Joe when he's here it's a lot funner so even though that me and my brothers in there someone to play with when you with them for a long time you get bold of it like he's our cousin we treat him as our brother and that you might want to move out the way when we do this I will don't worry mate oh [Music] oh I think that we get a lot more freedom than the the gold kids because Golder children they would be able to have [Music] catapults their parents will say no know prob is too dangerous most of my Gia friends at school like they just play on their Xboxes most of the time oh I hit it I hit it I hit it did you knock it down no they don't like to go outside and like feel free like Travelers do we're very lucky to have the stuff that we've got because other children wouldn't [Music] yeah I feel like the luckiest person in my [Music] school back in Nottinghamshire while Ben is no longer in school he's running his own egg selling business sell the eggs gives me um money to be able to pay for my flying lessons we've brought 102 chickens six ducks and six baby golins and two geese there's six in each box so I charge a pound for chicken eggs and £250 for duck eggs I usually get £14 a week just on eggs my final lesson costs £150 so what's that 10 weeks to save for a lesson 10 weeks yeah he's had a business mind from being tiny he's always wanted to buy something and sell it on and and so which is quite typical really of a lot of people in our community they're protecting the babies cuz they that we're going to steal them Ben's determined to fund his flying dreams himself and he's already on his way I've had one lesson already it's actually my first time being in a plane I was nervous for it but when I got home I was just like oh I flew a plane I'm no longer at school so I can't sell them to the teachers anymore but now I'm Miss for the uh Cafe he makes uh cooked English in the morning he uses my eggs all right that's it trees I'm ready for [Music] delivery I went to lots of different schools I experienced classrooms where members of The Traveling Community weren't allowed to interact with those of the settle Community hi Ben there you go put them on the side then I genuinely thought in the year 2016 that people would have moved on but in in actual fact in my view I think things have got harder there you go sweet thank you very much see you next time thank you bye bye £24 just like aspiring pilot Ben his sister Anastasia has high hopes for the future and wants to become a singer and I'm singing I feel like I'm connected to everybody people I wouldn't usually connect with or speak to I can connect with through my singing two three go Anastasia has been to quite a few primary schools she's been attacked beaten up when she was 5 years old she got pinned to the floor and somebody tried to feed her leaves and said this is what dirty jpos should eat Anastasia's problems stopped at the primary school Gates but for some reason Ben have continued I feel devastated for Ben because he was going to scho with the same ideas as me to get his education to be a pilot in schools traveling girls are treated a lot differently to traveling boys they look out for the girls and they'll encourage them what's perceived of traveling boys are these big rough and tough um rogish characters so therefore it makes it very difficult for a lot of traveling boys to be able to get on in school see again high five brilliant really good some gorgeous call gypsies Pikes your travel your gsy and all that no it's my feelings when they say that I just make me feel bad about myself people don't really bully me cuz I get out of the way know there's this boy uh who keeps calling him [ __ ] well he's made up a big gang now they all gang up on him you wouldn't just stay there and let him do it you would fight back for yourself in Essex Sparky's miniature harness has arrived at last twins Johnny and Abraham can train him to pull their homemade cart from now on we're going to get him out every day put him in the car and train him so then he's all properly broken so then we can ride him like this cuz he's all calm in the future I want to like build my own wagons get horses break them all in take them to shows and F go on Sparky woohoo this is [Music] good I want to live in a shy what the mom's got over there [Music] and I want to live here when I'm older it's a long while yet anyway we'll always be with each other cuz when we're older we're all going to stick together we all have like shall all next to each other even though we don't get on sometimes we're brothers and we always stick up for each other family's the most probably the most important thing in the world I try not to sneeze and that's what happens Ry I'm doing the Poo oh Rudy in brel the day of Tony's fight has arrived where are you going okay s this is Tony's first fight since he finished an 8mon prison stretch now I'm back and I'm ready and I'm a gypsy superhero the Rhino BR did do you know where the hairspray is no your dad mixed all my hairspray gel everything it really really off the reason Rudy's going to this cage fight is cuz um obviously his dad was fighting and Rudy was like daddyy please can I come please can I come please can I come and he watches it on the Telly all the time um and it he was just like really really wanted to go something is to Daddy's car oh what if you pressed I press the button oh man where have I put my phone I bet Tony's driven off of Rudy is on his way to watch his dad in the cage but at 4: is he old enough to see this violent sport up close I keep get a wedgie come on and you go kids where is he [Music] quick fight next okay you're next yeah I think after this fight after fight Tony's fighting next but there's just enough time for a quick pep talk with [Music] Rudy here I want you to concentrate tonight and that's how you've got a be all right cons F when we go out do what we've got to do and when daddy's fighting remember H SP playing [Music] right the last few minutes have warm up for Tony and then it's fight [Music] time Best Friends Olivia and Alicia were separated by the eviction and today is the first time that they have seen each other since so girls have you missed each other yeah we only get to see each other on the weekends now we only get to see each other on weekends is not playing you have to say biy buff boo bipp we used to play games and we used to play moncher and we had a own Treehouse as well can you play those games anymore no I miss them a lot Olivia and her family have been staying with her grandma but there isn't enough space for them to stay longterm I'm writing a letter for the council to tell them how I'm doing and how scared I am dear Council I had to move place to a place what if you got put out of your home would you like it so please open their sight I beg [Music] you why did you not get food I don't like [Music] them what do you miss about the KFC site we had our own little Treehouse there The Treehouse had to get burnt because we were leaving and that made me feel very sad Alicia and Olivia may never live together again as there are not enough sites for all the traveler families tell me how long you would like to be friends for um like forever forever I kind of want to Tre start hitting him la la la la la la la la la We're The Traveler girls it's Saturday night at the troxy in East London Britain's top cage fighting venue four-year-old English traveler Rudy is about to watch his dad fight for the first time to be B like an obstacle that's not an optional what they call in the move and turns but each body shots to the body despite his time out of the game it takes Tony just 37 seconds to take out his opponent and break his ribs your winner by TKO Tony the rhino child despite venue policy four-year-old Rudy has come to watch his first cage fight and he's taken it in his [Music] stride who's that who's that after Tony's Victory Rudy is with his dad watching a replay of the cage fight was just SC Daddy was fighting no cuz you know I win our culture and your culture is different you've been BR up with with stab ability around you we get BL bu up with our Windows getting blown out do you understand what I mean so I don't want him to go down the pathway that I've about to go down a long hard hard pathway you know I do it so you don't have to do that all you've got to do is go to school all right you can still come to my K's fights and when you go to school you learn loads of things in that little brain and then and then and then you don't have to ear your money like Daddy look with all them cups and booes look what do you want to do when you grow up a real boxer I'll go like this I'll go like and when I was watching you I said said punch you in aain where you never F [Music] what it's been 8 weeks since 12-year-old Ben left school after being bullied the last in a long line of problems he's faced because of his Roman EG gypsy heritage but things are looking up as the day has finally arrived for Ben to take one step closer to becoming a pilot just want to get in the plane and fly fly to the moon as Frank said we don't have too many people of Ben's age at 12 years old but it's nice to see young people taking up flying okay so Ben just look at the instrument before you fly then over here is the altimeter if we want to lower the nose or pitch the nose down we simply use the controls forward yeah pitch the those up use the controls back you're turning left and right turn the aircraft left and that one yeah and guess what if you want to go right go that way go that way that's it done [Music] excellent with the basics covered Ben is ready for [Music] takeoff when we got up to 2,000 ft me handed the controls to me what was that like that was incredible view was phenomenal all I saw was just grassing trees and houses and everything it was beautiful conditions today were quite challenging for somebody who hasn't done an awful lot of flying and when I handed him the controls he flew extremely well when it bounces off with the turbulence your heart starts beating fast and then it goes back down again in the future he could become uh possibly a commercial pilot whatever they did or try would not stop me for being a pilot and I'm not letting anyone get in a way of that and it won't stop me for who I want to be once again he's doing what I do flying a plane that was incredible not many people get to have an experience like [Music] that next time will Annie cope with life in a house now that she's moved away from her friends on the traveler side I was born here in that so it was quite sad for me to move does champion boxer Royston have what it takes to stay on top I think I'm quite quiet but got to watch out for the quiet ones and will twins Johnny and Abraham follow in their Uncle Tony's cage fighting footsteps this boy was kicking me and pushing me so I hit him on the Ed with a ground was back if it ain't in a ring or in a boxing club take deep breath walk away think this ain't worth it [Music] oh