inOBU, I accept that I am not familiar with the detailed ancestry of every family of 'gypsies', but understand that they originated in an area which we now call 'India'.

I was trying to point out that some 'travellers' appear to have no 'Romany' roots, and are in the UK to follow their own trades, which include scrap metal dealing and apparently, in some cases, theft.

'Tinker' is an occupation rather than an ethnic division, although I agree that it has become a derogatory term in some circumstances, possibly because of the above.