Travellers should not be discriminated against, say North Wales Police

Businesses displaying similar signs will have their details passed on to the Commission for Racial Equality in Wales, which says it will take action.

The force claims it is the first such policy in the UK.

Assistant chief constable Ian Shannon said: "Discrimination against gypsies and Irish travellers is widespread and completely unacceptable."

The force has told its officers to take note of signs in pubs, shops and other public premises that advertise an anti-traveller policy.

Gypsies are the one minority people seem to be allowed to insult and be rude about. Vera Norwood, Gypsy Council

Mr Shannon added that they would help to tackle discrimintation "by identifying the presence of 'No Travellers' notices and passing the information to the CRE so that action can be taken".

Chris Myant, director of the Commission for Racial Equality in Wales, said: "If these signs were to refer to any other group in our society, there would be uproar.

"Yet, 40 years after Parliament declared the practice to be unlawful we still see pubs, shops and other premises putting up 'No Travellers' or similar announcements.

"There must be zero tolerance for public expressions of prejudice of this kind." He added: "We hope others who are in a position to report to the Commission the presence of such notices will join in partnership with us in helping to make the whole of Wales an area free of such abuses.

"Those responsible for premises need to deal with bad behaviour by customers on the basis of what those customers actually do, not simply who they are."

Vera Norwood, from the Gypsy Council, said: "This probably is a first, and I hope other forces follow suit.

"Gypsies are the one minority people seem to be allowed to insult and be rude about. There's too much of it going on - it's pretty rotten and it should be stopped.