I remember a sign in the 80s,.I think it was in Forfar on a big car park.
‘‘No lorries or gypsies’’…which kinda illustrates the public perception of us, ie in the same category. 
They later on removed the ‘‘no gypsies’’ part of it,.presumably for pc reasons 
…and kept the ''no lorries ‘’ part up 
,.
Again it shows how we are looked upon, one step DOWN the food chain from Gypsies.