Anti motorhome policy in the UK (1 Viewer)

[Allanm]

Looking back over this year we've stayed at the Canterbury P&R, a CC CL, MCC CL & Nightstop and about ten rallies/meets/THSs all either close to town/village centres and/or local transport links.

Who needs aires?

Me, and many others who want to travel within the UK without planning every nights stop 3 months in advance.

Allan

 

[GJH]

Me, and many others who want to travel within the UK without planning every nights stop 3 months in advance.

Allan

Of those I listed only the CC CL and the Nightstop were booked in advance - purely because we were meeting people in those locations.

 

[Wildman]

Who mentioned CL's?
I thought the idea was to have an alternarive to rip off "clubs" ?

The MCC allow anyone to use their sites, as could any other club. Not ALL clubs are rip off merchants, there is very left in it for the site owner at £7 a night, yet people expect all of the facilities. Some of us fight to keep prices down, (No increases here for the past 5 years). Yet still get accused of being money grabbing. Expences are going up all the time. The CL system should fill the gap of aires, They will never be free in the UK because they are provided by private landowners who provide facilities at their own cost.

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[DP+JAY]

The MCC allow anyone to use their sites, as could any other club. Not ALL clubs are rip off merchants, there is very left in it for the site owner at £7 a night, yet people expect all of the facilities. Some of us fight to keep prices down, (No increases here for the past 5 years). Yet still get accused of being money grabbing. Expences are going up all the time. The CL system should fill the gap of aires, They will never be free in the UK because they are provided by private landowners who provide facilities at their own cost.

£7 a night(or less) is getting rare these days, most CL's want more like £15 or more!

 

[Wildman]

are you saying its time to increase my prices

 

[mjltigger]

are you saying its time to increase my prices

You say there's not a lot left out of £7.. but there is something left.. imagine having another 11 on top for the same effort

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[GJH]

£7 a night(or less) is getting rare these days, most CL's want more like £15 or more!

We stayed on a CL this year which charged £6 a night. Just a field with water tap and (well separated) cassette dump with its own water supply. There is hard standing available if the field gets too wet. The owner said the CC kept trying to get her to install electric points but she was loath to do so. I agreed as she would take years to make the investment back.

Higher prices seem to be a combination of demand from some users and pressure from the certificating organisation to support the point of view of those users.

 

[Wildman]

You say there's not a lot left out of £7.. but there is something left.. imagine having another 11 on top for the same effort

I could not possibly charge more than I'd be prepared to pay and seldom full. Limited to 5 vans it will never be a living, it is a service. Yet people still drive away because of no electric or no showers, we even have a WC/washroom on site. The CL system is a good one it is just underused. People want more so go to a full site and moan about the price.

 

[mjltigger]

I begrudge paying c&cc or CC purely because they do all that has been described in this thread but the cl scheme is good.. perhaps I will join again for next summer.thwblate night arrival thing is what puts me off. I know how I would feel if the boot was on the other foot.

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[Wildman]

funny you should mention late night arrival. I don't live on site I have an 8 mile return journey if someone arrives late, I don't charge maybe I should.

 

[mjltigger]

funny you should mention late night arrival. I don't live on site I have an 8 mile return journey if someone arrives late, I don't charge maybe I should.

I rarely go back to places I've visited as I love exploring new places. If you don't know the site I think it's rude to turn up at midnight.. The site owner may live on site or you may have to drive past 4 other vans full of light sleepers to get to your pitch.. and I don't plan ahead enough to know where I will be stopping until I set off from home after work on a Friday

 

[Bobby22]

Looking back over this year we've stayed at the Canterbury P&R, a CC CL, MCC CL & Nightstop and about ten rallies/meets/THSs all either close to town/village centres and/or local transport links.

Who needs aires?

BritStop site owners do alright.....why wouldn't Councils or LAs???????

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[EzeeRider]

Limited to 5 vans it will never be a living, it is a service. Yet people still drive away because of no electric or no showers, we even have a WC/washroom on site. The CL system is a good one it is just underused. People want more so go to a full site and moan about the price.

It all depends where the certificated sites are and their condition as to how much they are used. Its true those with electrics seem to get the most use but first and foremost I look at access and hard standing. Couldn't care less about electrics being available and definitely don't need showers and toilets. A fair price for EHU seems to be about £15 with hardstanding and £12 without. Without electric I would expect the price to be £2/3 lower than above.

ezee

 

[GJH]

BritStop site owners do alright.....why wouldn't Councils or LAs???????

BritStop owners take advantage of Para 2 of the First Schedule of the 1960 Act and, as far as I know, there is only a trust system (rather than any inspection system) that they don't abuse the numbers or nights allowed. They are also using car parks which have capacity because there is little or no competing demand which fills them already. There is an incentive for the owner in that more direct business will probably be generated because they can be sure that most people who stay will purchase something from them.
Contrast that to the fact that no pub chains (or other large businesses such as supermarkets) set up licensed sites or CLs throughout their estates because of having to comply with the other provisions of the 1960 Act.

Local authorities using Para 11 of the First Schedule of the 1960 Act first of all have to identify a suitable car park for usage by heavy vehicles. They then ensure that they comply with the other provisions of the 1960 Act and that the facility is managed such that the existing daytime demand (which fills car parks in many cases already) can be satisfied alongside the camping usage. There is little or no incentive for them to spend money or other resources on such an exercise because, unless somebody provides them with the data, they have no real idea of the size of the direct income from fees or the indirect economic benefit to the area in general.

 

[chaser]

I know this goes against all That has been said on this thread, but this shopping thing is a myth, if we are on here wanting free parking , or cheap, you are not someone who is into spending a lot in shops, more likely people who have spent a load on a camp site who visit the town will pay for bus, or taxi hire and spend in the town, so why are the council going to spend on a aire that is bound to be abused.

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[DP+JAY]

It all depends where the certificated sites are and their condition as to how much they are used. Its true those with electrics seem to get the most use but first and foremost I look at access and hard standing. Couldn't care less about electrics being available and definitely don't need showers and toilets. A fair price for EHU seems to be about £15 with hardstanding and £12 without. Without electric I would expect the price to be £2/3 lower than above.

ezee

In my opinion you're about £5 over my budget.

 

[DP+JAY]

I know this goes against all That has been said on this thread, but this shopping thing is a myth, if we are on here wanting free parking , or cheap, you are not someone who is into spending a lot in shops, more likely people who have spent a load on a camp site who visit the town will pay for bus, or taxi hire and spend in the town, so why are the council going to spend on a aire that is bound to be abused.

I disagree, as previously stated, I can only spend my cash once.
The reason I want free or cheap parking is so I've got some left to spend.

 

[magicsurfbus]

A significant number of French campsites now offer a 'campsite lite' corral for MH owners, usually near the entrance. You pay less and you get less. The campsite at Bois Plage en Re is a classic example - automated barrier and pay to use service point for MH owners inside a fenced compound with marked bays and an outdoor beach shower on offer. You even get an hour's wi-fi in with your 12 Euro fee. Over the road is a small free cramped aire which fills up very quickly, and they have 45 minutes' service point access through the campsite's barrier without having to pay an entry fee. Both are within easy walking distance of a pleasant beach and a village with a daily market. Here it is in Google Streetview.

To my mind that's a nicely-integrated way to cater for all needs. Of course, try that solution in this country and you're immediately into Paragraph 94c sub-section 5012z of the Motorhomes Piss Off Act of 1973 and all the rest of it.

Back to Europe with my holiday money again next year.

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[GJH]

I disagree, as previously stated, I can only spend my cash once.
The reason I want free or cheap parking is so I've got some left to spend.

And the reason local authorities don't provide it is that they don't know if you will spend it there or have a free night and then go on to the next town

 

[chaser]

Don't know why this thread keeps rolling along, because aires just ain't going to happen , end of

 

[DP+JAY]

And the reason local authorities don't provide it is that they don't know if you will spend it there or have a free night and then go on to the next town

And the reason we do most of our motorhoming abroad.

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[GJH]

And the reason we do most of our motorhoming abroad.

Which brings us back to my post at the top of page 4 - the cost (and time involved) of actually getting abroad and back buys a lot of UK overnight stays

 

[buttons]

Which brings us back to my post at the top of page 4 - the cost (and time involved) of actually getting abroad and back buys a lot of UK overnight stays

To be honest, I cant understand why spending £20 a night for your holiday experience is so alien to some. What else could you get for twenty quid, not a lot.

 

[Bobby22]

And the reason local authorities don't provide it is that they don't know if you will spend it there or have a free night and then go on to the next town

Yes some may well

To be honest, I cant understand why spending £20 a night for your holiday experience is so alien to some. What else could you get for twenty quid, not a lot.

You can get three nights camping with C&CC on a THS

You can camp @ Haganaps FUN meets with a hall to boot.

You can get yourself a boot load of booze at the supermarket.

You can get yourself a couple of nice ribeye steaks and a bottle of wine.
You can get yourself 2 gallons of blue for your CT
You can get yourself 16.29 litres of diesel.
You can get 4 bottles of cheap vino at lidl
You can get plenty of frozen these

I'm sure if i had more time i could come up with 1 or 2 more examples.

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[DP+JAY]

To be honest, I cant understand why spending £20 a night for your holiday experience is so alien to some. What else could you get for twenty quid, not a lot.

Which brings us back to my post at the top of page 4 - the cost (and time involved) of actually getting abroad and back buys a lot of UK overnight stays

Probably no more expensive to go abroad than to get to Cornwall or Devon.
It's not JUST the money(if you can find a decent site for £20), it's the whole site thing.
Usually miles from anywhere, too many rules & regulations, plus you often need to book well in advance & with a minimum number of nights.

 

[GJH]

Probably no more expensive to go abroad than to get to Cornwall or Devon.

But stopping off on the way there and back means that it isn't just the slog of driving. We try to drive for no more than 2 or 3 hours on most trips.

It's not JUST the money(if you can find a decent site for £20), it's the whole site thing.
Usually miles from anywhere, too many rules & regulations, plus you often need to book well in advance & with a minimum number of nights.

Which is why we tend to use THSs/meets and CLs that don't need booking (I posted earlier about the number of such close to towns/transport we have used this year). We only book if we need to be in a particular place.

Apart from the CC Chapel Lane, where we went in April purely because we were having upholstery work done by Tappers, and CC Blackpool South, where we went in May 2012 because we were meeting friends, we haven't paid anywhere near £20 a night since we bought our current van in February 2012.

 

[jongood]

Does anyone else find GJH s posts deeply pessimistic?

Just spouting your own views and not letting the discussion develop is sooooo tedious.

IMHO

Jon

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[GJH]

As I said earlier in this thread, Jon, I would love to be proved wrong. If anyone has any different ideas as to how aires can be achieved in this country then please let them put those ideas into practice. I'll be the first to applaud success.

 

[chaser]

Does anyone else find GJH s posts deeply pessimistic?

Just spouting your own views and not letting the discussion develop is sooooo tedious.

IMHO

Jon

Must confess I did for quite a while on here always sideing for councils and authorities but recently , don't know whether it's me or him I have come to agree with more and more of what he is about, still not all by any means but we are getting there, but on this subject i think we are pretty much aligned

 

[Hymie835]

Here's a radical thought. How about if the CC, CCC , MCC and all other clubs were lobbied to invite local councillors to meet us at every THS or rally or even Motorhome shows. Nothing deep and argumentative you understand.
Lets give them a chance to see how now nice motorhomers are. It could be nothing more than a cup of tea and walk round the site. Over time they may come to understand us and our needs.

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