There is a shortage of migrant workers to pick them as the Poles wont do it anymore.

They have now got wise to the low wages and realised they now get state handouts bigger than they will earn for a day.

know a lot of polish folk then?

There is plenty in town now and I will know even more when I go to Kracow in July.

The only Poles that I've come in contact with live about 6 or 7 to a house usually, they are mainly blokes aged between 24-40 and they all graft very hard. Whether it be as builders, bus drivers or postman. I don't know many Poles but i can't imagine that they would come here just to sign on....?

The problem with the strawberry picking is not nesicerilly due to wages as the jobs pay more a lot more than the minimum wage usually. It's because th Poles / Slovakians etc now have freedom in what types of jobs hey do here rather than only being able to get a seasonal permit to work on farms.

Maybe some of our very own lazy barstewards on the rock and roll could give strawberry picking a go......

Some of our lazy barstewards would not get out of the sack.

I was only quoting from a news report I heard this morning,got to agree the Poles I do know do graft like.

I work with a lot of poles and yes the majority are good grafters

Are you a scaffolder by any chance?

i know two of them mr sheen and mr muscle

which is it then ? thought you said they were here for the handouts?

Probably both,WHY.

contradictory posts thats why.

I did say I was quoting a news report I was listening to and of course some have come to graft and many will have come over because as usual our fecking country is a soft touch.

As for contradictory posting ME never.

and you also said they were wise to low wages and knew they could get state handouts bigger than their wages.....but they're also good grafters.

my apologies for having the effrontery to suggest that you contradicted yourself.maybe you shouldn't put up such deliberately provocative threads if you don't want your opinion challenged?

Are you saying that they are ALL here for the graft then and nowt else.

I will always welcome any opinion challenged and apologies accepted for your effrontery the KEY word is deliberately.

By the way, DO you know any Poles.

Whty post it though, it's fooking A1 drivel

More like A4 than A1

The thing is Mr.Mad you can't have an opinion in this country now for fear of upsetting people and being accused of racism!!!!

This country!!!!

i agree mutters

there are a load of fookin lazy britsh right - lets get that clear

but there are also a shit load of lazy bastad foreigners immigrants refugees call em what the fook you want. theres loads a people from all backgrounds live and work here but theres fookin loads more who dont - and its prob the lazy spongy natives that have made it easier for more illegals and lazies to come over

i'm fine with families who come in and only the gadge grafting and the missus looking after the bairns - after all we'd all want that as well.

what i am not happy with is sponging etc etc etc and doing fook all to contribute except crime crime and more crime - again mirror that for british -

if someone says a person is a lazy jock baghead who just skives off the state then no-one feels offence - but say someone is a lazty ****** then all hell breaks loose and the self righteous pc brigade stand up shouting- despite the fact that the description could be correct.

When has the fear of upsetting someone ever stopped me and my gob,speak first think later is a trait I wil never lose.

I never really thought myself a racist but things happen in this country and then you get to thinking maybe I am after all,but being accused and being one is one of my contradictory terms.

nobody in this thread has called anyone a racist.

they should be made too and if there partner then thinks its clever to claim for him/her and the rest of the family (including the lazy twat that wont work) then they should have there money stopped too. this country is a fooking joke you're right muttley

I thought a lot of the jobs on the farms were cash in hand. I know of a couple of Polish men who came over with their families, got jobs with stagecoach but now cannot afford to live here because of the price of rents.
There is a shortage of social housing in the north east therefore private rent is the only way which most cannot afford, thats why you hear of most living 10 or more to a house.
Why they didn't check this out before they came to work here god knows!!

Most of them live in terraces, as far as i am aware the going rate to rent a terrace is between 375 and 525 a month. Obviously there is council tax/utilities to pay on top of that. I presumed that they lived 8 to a house was so they could save more money.

According to Countryfile last sunda before Poland, Czech, Slovkia, Slovenia etc entered the European Union many Poles used to get specialist work permits for sasonal work here in agriculture, there probably was some sort of tax relief. However now Poles aren't only restricted to agricultural work they can obviously do anything so they are not interested in that type of wotk - hence the strawberries that are going to rot......

Does anyone know if the Strawberry picking place up Thorpe Thewles way is open, the mrs tries to take the kids there every year.

not sure but the one in butterwick nr sedgefield is definitely gone, we used to pillage that place as kids one for the basket 2 for me

And in turn the farmers will say they can't get a realistic price for the produce because of the supermarkets swingeing buying policies. Much as they're saying that there's a crisis in dairy supplies because of the same policies.

I'd say if you can't get decent cheese there's fook all reason to live in England anymore.

Incidentally, as I tried to explain a couple of months ago, it's virtually impossible to stroll into Britain and claim benefits. If you aren't a British citizen you get SFA, even if you're married to one. Getting citizenship takes years.

It seems to me that Eatern Europeans are the new scapegoats, after Jews, Irish, niggers, Asians etc. Some people need to have a group of people to demonise for some reason.

My experience of Poles, Czechs etc is good. I've lived in Nottingham for nearly 12 years, and in all that time there has been an excess of work. Anyone signing on in Nottingham who is fit to work is a scrounger in my opinion.

There has also been an excess of rented accommodation, particularly in less desirable areas, even when all the students are present.

What the economic migration has done is filled the jobs and housing, making businesses and landlords more prosperous. I don't think that can be a bad thing.

One of my mates is the warehouse manager of where I used to work. he had no end of chew recruiting reliable, honest and hardworking staff. Over the last couple of years he has taken on about 6 Eastern Europeans, and he said he can't fault any of them. Their attitude is an example to the 'natives', who have raised their standards to compete. They have integrated well, attending language classes to improve their English. They have certainly opened his eyes, as he was (and still is) fairly right wing in his views. He said they feel thay have a point to prove by being hard working, although their work ethic is naturally stronger than your average Brit.

I like the Poles, they were the ones that managed to take Monte Cassino from the German Paras in WW2