Should Caravans be allowed on motorhome parking places ? (2 Viewers)

Should caravans be allowed to use motorhome overnight parking places

  • yes

    Votes: 21 26.6%
  • No

    Votes: 58 73.4%

  • Total voters
    79

scotjimland

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This question was put to a German forum .

Pitches for caravans open?
In recent editions of "ACE STEERING WHEEL" the discussion is the fact that the RV spaces are now open for caravan teams. Which opinion has ProMobil that? What opinion do you have?
.

My personal opinion is - why not?
Practice shows indeed that it is practiced by some caravan owners already. Whether it illegally or just on the edge of legality, I have not yet figured in the various contributions to the discussion in the various forums.
A modern caravan is after (almost) as comfortable equipped with Wasser-/Abwassertank and toilet system as a camper .
Basically, it seems clear to me: The caravan drivers who stay in a mobile home parking space, have the same needs as we usually camper drivers:
first Easy to stay only on the journey to a remote destination.
second For an up to ... days to park land and people to meet then continue on to the next place.
otherwise would go both mobile home as well as caravan drivers to a campground. The reduced fees for a mobile home parking space and repeatedly complained campground rules are possibly for short stays also crucial.
Given the steadily rising cost of motorhome purchase / entertainment (taxes, insurance, fuel, etc.) will be in the future (have) already one or another mobile home owners look for cheaper alternatives - which of us would have gladly give up the comfort of independence. Since the majority of the mobile home owners also have another car as a second car, is standing for a camper in the future more and more a question of can afford it / want - a caravan eventually cost only a fraction of a camper's. Add to that the mobility comes with the car during the stay. Just everything is a question of money.
This is still quite a bit of acceptance and tolerance between camper and caravan drivers needed - still a long way?. greeting Clipper50

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What's your view..

Should caravans be allowed to use motorhome overnight parking places .. ?
 
Feb 27, 2011
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If we are on about aires in France etc....

2 things make me say no. One is the length of the combined unit the other is the fact they are not self contained and (most) need external water/waste tanks.

You can fit two average motorhomes into the space taken by one caravan.
 

Snowbird

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Having just returned from touring in France using mainly aires its my opinion that if your not parked up on an aire by 1400 then dont bother trying as they are full. If caravans were allowed then they are going to need bigger aires.
It seems that what with the rising cost of fuel and campsites and the lowering of disposable income those that used to use campsites are now turning to the cheaper option of aires.
Theres also the other thing of power, not many caravans have solar power, so they are going to want to run gennys :Sad:.
I have no problem with caravans using aires if they are self sufficient, the same goes for motorhomes. As long as they are self sufficient and have fresh water/waste water tanks fitted which most caravans don't, and have adequate solar power for there day to day needs. If they don't have these basic requirements then use a campsite.
Aires are not a cheap way of camping but a place to stay overnight.... Unfortunately many forget that simple fact. What happens to the caravan whilst the campers go off in there car shopping or sightseeing, returning to find me parked up for the night were there car was once parked :Doh:.

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scotjimland

scotjimland

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I can't make up my mind, for every argument against they're is a counter argument ..

You can't ban on the basis of using outside water/waste tanks.. many small camper vans don't have on board tanks.. I don't see the problem .. it's an inconvenience for the owner, not others.

It can't be length, many large motorhomes pull trailers or toads.. if there is space they are not a problem .. I accept many small aires are not suitable for large outfits.. but that applies whatever the outfit, ie .. RV+toad or car+caravan ..
You could fit two 'normal sized' camper vans in place of many large ones.

You can't ban because they don't have solar .. many motorhomes don't .. indeed I have never had solar on any camper van ..

The German vote is 78% against.. yet many speak in favour .. be it camper van, motorhome , caravan, 5er, RV or mini artic .. are we not equal .. or are some more equal than others .. ?

So why should caravans be treated differently .. What's the real reason .. ?

17 have voted NO , only two have given a reason .. so if you vote NO it would be appreciated if you said why ..
 
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Snowbird

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You have travelled in France enough to see the "travelling" community especially down the west coast. Can you imagine what would happen to aires in these areas if trailers were allowed on aires. I hasten to add I have no bones to pick with the travelling community, having travelled long enough.
 

Scout

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No.

nor should cars, vans, lorries

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scotjimland

scotjimland

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You have travelled in France enough to see the "travelling" community especially down the west coast. Can you imagine what would happen to aires in these areas if trailers were allowed on aires. I hasten to add I have no bones to pick with the travelling community, having travelled long enough.

Yes indeed Dave.. I have .. but is it right to discriminate on that basis ?

also, many 'travellers' use motorhomes, (albeit many are converted trucks).. and aires, but are generally moved off pretty quickly ..

My opening post was prompted by the German discussion .. and when I toured Germany often seen caravans on stelplatz .. but I believe you are correct .. it's an attempt to stop the travellers..

yet there are those don't want caravans, simply because they are caravans, .. (irrespective of who owns them ) .
 
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Apr 27, 2008
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We stayed a night at Cordes-sur-ciel and the aire had two caravans in it, apparently allowed by the guy who checks youve paid. If aires allowed caravans they would need to enforce a max stay as many caravans do not tour and could block aires for weeks. Most caravans in Ffrance are dutch and the French think they hate spending money anyway.:roflmto:
 
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with my limited experience on Aires... i believe these are stop overs and should not be used for more than 1 / 2 nights max.

I would not object to a caravan stop over on an aire but to me the car should remain coupled or at least if the car leaves the Aire then the caravan should be taken with it ( as would be the case with a motorhome towing a toad / trailer ). :hardhat:

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scotjimland

scotjimland

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We stayed a night at Cordes-sur-ciel and the aire had two caravans in it, apparently allowed by the guy who checks youve paid.[HI] If aires allowed caravans they would need to enforce a max stay as many caravans do not tour and could block aires for weeks. [/HI]Most caravans in Ffrance are dutch and the French think they hate spending money anyway.:roflmto:

Absolutely agree .. the max stay rule should be applied rigorously during the busy season..

If I were touring France with the caravan I would only want to use an aire for overnight .. not as a camp site.. When we toured with the caravan in the past we generally looked for municipal sites .. but many of them as well as most commercial sites are closed off season.. so where does that leave the touring caravan.. :Sad:
 
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scotjimland

scotjimland

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with my limited experience on Aires... i believe these are stop overs and should not be used for more than 1 / 2 nights max.

I would not object to a caravan stop over on an aire but to me[HI] the car should remain coupled or at least if the car leaves the Aire then the caravan should be taken with it[/HI] ( as would be the case with a motorhome towing a toad / trailer ). :hardhat:

Agreed :thumb:
 

ojibway

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I think aires evolved out of a need for places to park/overnight for (French) motorhomers who like to travel a lot and explore their beautiful country.
Caravanners, by contrast have a different culture. Park up (camp) and explore by car.
Few aire have room for caravans and their tow vehicles. It's bad enough when motorhomers take up two spaces when towing a car or trailer.:Angry:
So, no, I don't think caravanners should be using aires.:Sad:
You choose your life style. Can't have it both ways!:winky:

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scotjimland

scotjimland

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I think aires evolved out of a need for places to park/overnight for (French) motorhomers who like to travel a lot and explore their beautiful country.
Caravanners, by contrast have a different culture. Park up (camp) and explore by car.
Few aire have room for caravans and their tow vehicles. It's bad enough when motorhomers take up two spaces when towing a car or trailer.:Angry:
So, no, I don't think caravanners should be using aires.:Sad:
You choose your life style. Can't have it both ways!:winky:

Yes, I agree... to a point... I don't want to see aires clogged up with campers either..

but if caravans are banned should 'vanacars' (motorhome with car ) not also be banned ? They also park up and explore by car..

To be frank, it's never going to happen .. but it's an interesting discussion on a slow day .. :Smile:
 

Snowbird

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I think the problems would arise when the occupants of the toad or towing car went off sightseeing or shopping and on return found they had no place to park as another camper was parked in what they would consider "there" place.
As long as the bay was big enough and the towing vehicle was attached to the trailer I could see no problem arising, but human nature being what it is there will always be someone who thinks they have a right to do as they please and be damned to everyone else.
Thats why no caravans are allowed on French aires by statute law.
 

scousebird

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When we were caravanning we stopped for lunch on the Aire at La Fleche without realising it was an Aire because there were lots of cars parked on it, whilst there a council worker pointed out the tap to us so obviously didn't have a problem with us being there. We would never have used an Aire knowingly as there would probably not be enough parking space as we had a twin axle van, saying that we could use very few municipal sites because we were twin axle due to the "traveller" problem.

Being an ex caravanner I would not have wanted to use Aires with the caravan because we were not self conatined, it just wouldn't have been convenient especially when the kids were small.

I think I would say no because I believe caravans are better suited for sites.

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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Being an ex caravanner I would not have wanted to use Aires with the caravan because we were not self conatined, it just wouldn't have been convenient especially when the kids were small.

I think I would say no because I believe caravans are better suited for sites.

So what about these aires.. Certainly not overcrowded and more like sites than car parks..

not suitable ?
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Scout

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piont taken, but what if it WAS full of caravaners, with awnings out and chairs/bbq's etc etc AND a wholeload of motor homers turned up and could not get on,mmmm:Sad:

if theres rule theres rules, and the aires are French and they say the rules are NO CARAVANS.

so perhaps the bigger aires with lots of space, could/should be part municible sites, everybodys happy. ( expect the vanners who will need to pay more probibly/possibly)
 

Geo

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I voted NO
Reasons simply numbers there are almost a 4 to 1 ratio of caravans to Motor homes if the system were opened up to caravans it would in my opinion collapse
imagine the aires being 5 x busier

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scotjimland

scotjimland

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piont taken, but what if it WAS full of caravaners, with awnings out and chairs/bbq's etc etc AND a wholeload of motor homers turned up and could not get on,mmmm:Sad:

if theres rule theres rules, and the aires are French and they say the rules are NO CARAVANS.

Not disputing the rules which I am well aware of .. but what's the difference between a car+caravan and a motorhome+car ..

I've seen 5ers, caravans, trucks, converted coaches, campervans pulling caravans, even a LandRover with a roof tent .. believe me I've seen it all..

but so far no one has given a valid reason, only that it may be abused by Itinerants or it may get over crowded or people would break the rules.. or put up awnings and use BBQs.. all of which I've seen motorhomers doing .. all spurious reasons.
 

Scout

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if theres rule theres rules, and the aires are French and they say the rules are NO CARAVANS.

I think the above says it all, its what they (meaning the owners of the aires want ) they probibly dont really want h/ms with toads ( does anybody know this for sure? Im not! )

no matter what the RULES are there is allways somebodywho will bend them
 

scousebird

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So what about these aires.. Certainly not overcrowded and more like sites than car parks..

not suitable ?


I have seen and stayed on Aires that have hedged bays and loads of space, and yes some of them are like sites - some look like ex municipal, and maybe in ignorance some caravnners would attempt to stay on them. Before we had a MH we didn't know MH only Aires existed so only looked for sites anyway, and I'm sure most caravanners are the same.

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Feb 22, 2008
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NO for me. Aires were provided for CAMPING CARS which my understanding means motorhomes.
 

darklord

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In France, a Mh is a "camping car" much the same as spain and portugal. Aires are denoted by signs saying "camping car" and most countries have given MH's prefference over caravans, probably for very good reasons.

I have been away six days now, and only been on sites twice, the rest of the time i have used aires or wildcamped, following the "parking" not "camping" ethos, the munute someone gets into a caravan, they are camping, so aires are not for them.
If people want to enjoy aires and wildcamping, buy a motorhome, if they want sites, buy a caravan,.......simples.:thumb:
 
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NO for me. Aires were provided for CAMPING CARS which my understanding means motorhomes.

Then in come the caravans then cars then white man van--all of a sudden a special allocated "camping car" areas is a free for all-----
NO sod off, and use the town car parks and caravans need to stop trying to be a wanna be motorhome and use campsites ,that is what they are designed for--- if they want to do as a motorhome does ,buy one :thumb:

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scotjimland

scotjimland

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.......... [HI]the munute someone gets into a caravan, they are camping,[/HI] so aires are not for them.
........

by your definition.. the minute you step into the hab area of your van are you not camping .. ?

No, of course not, no more than if I stopped and without unhitching and stepped into my caravan..

Camping is generally defined as setting up camp .. ie , putting out chairs, awning etc .. I often stop overnight with my caravan, don't unhitch, and do none of these things ... so what's the difference ?
 
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Of course they should be able to use aires and any provisions made in this country for overnight stops. Why not, for tow cars pay more road fund and contribute much more to the local economy so why not have equal rights to use the provisions for overnight stops on route.
Sounds like a selfish attitude to me. you appear to be forgetting that we are all campers with equal needs.
 

magicsurfbus

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My gut feeling is no, because more often than not you'd find the towing vehicle parked in an adjacent bay, and as others have pointed out, there's far more caravans than motorhomes out there.

It's not easy finding aire spots in summer and there's enough continental motorhome owners who'll hog two aire bays with all their paraphenalia without multitudes of caravanners doing the same.

I could see a case for extremely large aires like Puy du Fou or Parc Futuroscope having a designated caravan corner, but otherwise I'm not in favour.

Heaven only knows what Biscarrosse-Plage aire would look like if the resident crusties were allowed to bring caravans in.

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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Of course they should be able to use aires and any provisions made in this country for overnight stops. Why not, for tow cars pay more road fund and contribute much more to the local economy so why not have equal rights to use the provisions for overnight stops on route.
Sounds like a selfish attitude to me. you appear to be forgetting that we are all campers with equal needs.

well said :thumb:
 

darklord

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by your definition.. the minute you step into the hab area of your van are you not camping .. ?

No, of course not, no more than if I stopped and without unhitching and stepped into my caravan..

Camping is generally defined as setting up camp .. ie , putting out chairs, awning etc .. I often stop overnight with my caravan, don't unhitch, and do none of these things ... so what's the difference ?


Sounds like seeing as you have changed from a MH to a caravan, you want the rules to change as well Jim. I do not have to leave my vehicle to enter my hab area, but you do. By your workings, every HGV with a bunk could use an aire, whether rigid or artic.
A caravan will never be "a camping car" , no matter what blustering is done on forums. I,d like to see a caravan park up on an aire predominantly used by the french.....now THAT would be funny.::bigsmile:
 
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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Sounds like seeing as you have changed from a MH to a caravan, you want the rules to change as well Jim. I do not have to leave my vehicle to enter my hab area, but you do. By your workings, every HGV with a bunk could use an aire, whether rigid or artic.
A caravan will never be "a camping car" , no matter what blustering is done on forums. I,d like to see a caravan park up on an aire predominantly used by the french.....now THAT would be funny.::bigsmile:

I have been both on and off all my life.. and may well go back to motorhoming soon .. I have no axe to grind.

My OP was raised as a point of discussion and to gauge feelings of fellow campers.. I'm not out to campaign for a change..

As for seeing caravans on aires I have seen many .. and no one batted an eye lid.. I don't think the French care one way or the other.. and if you read the link in the OP the Germans are also quite tollerant .. it seems it's a Brit thing for motorhomers to despise caravanners .. and vis a versa :Sad:

Personally I would rather be on a site as an aire whether van or caravan .. but for convenience of stopping overnight en route to Spain, aires are very useful.. especially out of season when most French sites are closed.. and aires deserted..

Autoroute aires are open to all ..

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