New report due on decades-long 'Tinker Experiment' that 'decimated' lives in Scotland

SNP equalities minister Kaukab Stewart said a report was anticipated in September, which is expected to establish a timeline of key events, decisions and roles.

The scheme, which ran between the 1940s and 1980s and was supported by successive UK governments and Scottish councils, attempted to strip away the nomadic lifestyle of travellers, providing rudimentary and often cramped huts for people to live in. Families were reportedly threatened with having their children taken away and put into care if they did not take up the offer.

Campaigners have likened the practice to “cultural genocide” and there have been calls for a formal apology. Shamus McPhee, who grew up on the Bobbin Mill site in Pitlochry, where he initially lived in a prefabricated World War Two-style Nissen hut with no electricity, previously told The Scotsman the scheme had “decimated” life chances.

In 2022, the Scottish Government announced it would commission independent research into the experiment. It said this would involve searching state records covering a period of 90 years to establish a timeline of key events, as well as identifying any available records on decisions made by government departments – especially the pre-devolution Scottish Office – and the role of institutions such as the Church of Scotland.

Researchers were asked to estimate the scale of the policy, including the number of people affected, and the locations of sites across Scotland, while also recording “any instances of forced adoption” they came across.

It was anticipated the research would involve digging into material covering the period from 1900 to 1990, including Scottish Office and other government records, as well as papers held by councils and the Kirk, newspaper articles, letters, photographs and diaries.

Two contracts relating to the work had a combined value of around £50,000, and final reports were initially due in January. However, the work required to access the relevant archives and analyse the findings is understood to have been greater than expected and as a result, the independent researchers requested more time.

Ms Stewart said: “We recognise historical policies have had an impact on gypsy/traveller communities, and we want to understand events as fully as possible. Independent research is underway to establish a timeline of key events, decisions and roles.

“We anticipate receiving a report in September 2024 and we will consider our next steps after then. We are committed to improving the lives of gypsy/travellers and we will engage fully with people affected once the archival research is complete, including giving community members the opportunity to share their own experiences, if they wish to do so.”

Davie Donaldson, a Scottish traveller and campaigner, previously called for a “full truth and reconciliation commission”, telling The Scotsman: “I think it’s crucial the Scottish Government recognises the real impact that the experiments had on not only the victims and the survivors of the Tinker Experiment, but on the generation that came afterwards, in the form of cultural trauma.”