Mitt brev till den brittiske ambassadören med anledning av besöken från "asfaltläggarna"

Dear Sir,

I would like to take this opportunity to write to you regarding a matter which has had grave consequences for, inter alia, the Municipality of Sigtuna and also detrimentally affects the general image of the United Kingdom in Sweden.

For several years now, a large number of so-called “Irish construction workers” from Northern Ireland have travelled through Sweden in caravans offering services of questionable quality. Furthermore, the legal ownership to some of the vehicles used appear to be unclear. Other vehicles have been defective in one way or another. The main problem, however, is that these visitors to Sweden blatantly ignore all regulations concerning the proper handling of waste and ecologically harmful material.

In Sigtuna, about 30 caravans and other vehicles registered in the United Kingdom stayed at the Rävsta camping site earlier this year. The result after their leaving was appalling: large quantities of waste, chemicals, building demolition remnants etc. had been dumped on the site and in the surrounding nature reserve area. The visitors took no responsibility whatsoever for the consequences of their actions. Subsequently, the Municipality closed down the camping site.

This sad history has already repeated itself twice.

Some weeks ago, the “construction workers” returned to the Municipality of Sigtuna, placing their caravans nearby a shopping mall at Arlandastad and dumping all sorts of waste in the area.
On 30 June, after allegedly having been forced to leave the Municipality of Järfälla, a large number of the same persons, with caravans, trespassed on and maliciously damaged the premises of the closed Rävsta camping site. They were subsequently evicted.

Apart from causing substantial costs for the municipal authorities involved, this phenomenon can hardly be said to improve the Swedish public’s perception of the United Kingdom as a nation.
Against this background, I am appealing to you, Mr Ambassador, to ensure that all proper measures available to you and your competent national authorities are taken in order to avoid this very distressing situation being repeated in the future.

Yours faithfully,

Anders Johansson
Mayor
The Municipality of Sigtuna