Anyone else encountered Motorhome hostility?

Mick Kennedy

Mick Kennedy

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SWIFT KONTIKI 649
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I wonder if many others have encountered unbidden hostility simply because you drive a motorhome?

I have been driving these lovely vans since 1980 (a Bedford CF, various VW combie's, a Winnebago and now a Kontiki 649) and I've never had a problem. But my eldest son recently bought his first motorhome and has had some very negative experiences - from people flicking the V's at him to being cut up, or just getting nasty looks.

OK, I've had people a bit miffed if they get stuck behind us on a long country road, but nothing major; yet my lad, a good ''advanced'' driver is seeing some hostility. Maybe it's because he's young and people are resentful? I don't know.

Without opening a ''nasty'' thread of horrible stories, I'd be interested to know of others' experience in this regard.

Happy New Year, one and all!

Mick
 
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Deep Owl said:
As several others have said, I like to pull in or slow/indicate to allow cars to pass. This doesn’t seem to work in France; I stop and the car behind sits there, I indicate and it stays there. After about 20 seconds, I pull away, they can stay there until I turn off the road!
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My usual tactic is to simply do an extra circuit (sometimes two) of a roundabout; it allows vehicles behind to pass and isn’t to disruptive for us.

Ian
 
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bigtwin said:
My usual tactic is to simply do an extra circuit (sometimes two) of a roundabout; it allows vehicles behind to pass and isn’t to disruptive for us.

Ian
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Wow, surely the G-forces will be enormous though! 😄
 
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Mick Kennedy said:
I wonder if many others have encountered unbidden hostility simply because you drive a motorhome?

I have been driving these lovely vans since 1980 (a Bedford CF, various VW combie's, a Winnebago and now a Kontiki 649) and I've never had a problem. But my eldest son recently bought his first motorhome and has had some very negative experiences - from people flicking the V's at him to being cut up, or just getting nasty looks.

OK, I've had people a bit miffed if they get stuck behind us on a long country road, but nothing major; yet my lad, a good ''advanced'' driver is seeing some hostility. Maybe it's because he's young and people are resentful? I don't know.

Without opening a ''nasty'' thread of horrible stories, I'd be interested to know of others' experience in this regard.

Happy New Year, one and all!

Mick
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my next door neighbour objected to our previous van saying it was ugly and blocked his view while reversing off his drive (untrue if checked) make matters worse our replacement 'van is longer but lower so is more of a view restriction but never had a comment. He said I should look at storage somewhere else which defeated our intention in having it on the drive for immediate access.

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jerryz said:
Yes Holland now very hostile to MHs lots of Dutch owners now storing their vans over the border in germany .
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What’s fuelling that resentment? I thought of all the European nations, the Dutch have embraced camping very enthusiastically.
 
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I have written about Holland before , many local councils and nimbys and greens are turning against MH in Holland Nijmegan has removed the licences and parking from all it MH sites when I visited in 2023 .. the police said MH were not permitted to park anywhere in the city and all the MH sites within 6km had been closed . We were told to move on or get 200euro fine or have our Van impounded . there was dutch couple in a van down by the river who was getting the same treatment , we had only been in Nijmegan 2 hours ....

many of my dutch MH friend have told me similar stories , and as I said many are leaving there vans in Germany , they avoid MH journies in their own country , also othe MH travellers from France, germany and Denmark warned me about changing attitudes in Holland ???

Next time im going Belgium to Germany and will only transit Holland Im not wasting any money there
 
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jerryz said:
Yes Holland now very hostile to MHs lots of Dutch owners now storing their vans over the border in germany .
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Our bricking was around 17 years ago and we've been back since then and not had any issues so it's surprising to hear that they are being so hostile.
 
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I was thinking of going this year. Perhaps I should just drive through/bypass and head for Denmark. Other than a city break, haven't been to Holland for thirty years and that was with a caravan. What do Funsters think?
 
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Mick Kennedy said:
I wonder if many others have encountered unbidden hostility simply because you drive a motorhome?

I have been driving these lovely vans since 1980 (a Bedford CF, various VW combie's, a Winnebago and now a Kontiki 649) and I've never had a problem. But my eldest son recently bought his first motorhome and has had some very negative experiences - from people flicking the V's at him to being cut up, or just getting nasty looks.

OK, I've had people a bit miffed if they get stuck behind us on a long country road, but nothing major; yet my lad, a good ''advanced'' driver is seeing some hostility. Maybe it's because he's young and people are resentful? I don't know.

Without opening a ''nasty'' thread of horrible stories, I'd be interested to know of others' experience in this regard.

Happy New Year, one and all!

Mick
Click to expand...
Someone honked at me in France once. Maybe, and quite rightly so, they were annoyed about Brexit... x:-)

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The only hostility and snobbery I have ever experienced has Ben other motorhomers.
I don’t think I have ever really had problems with other road users
Apart form a young guy that ran in to my van in a car park.
But in general I find the gin plaice dwellers intolerable.
Especially the British and sum Germans but most of the other ones seem ok including the French and Italians
Don’t know what all the snobbery about we all shite in a box take water from a dirty tap and carry our shite around with us
WB
 
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jerryz said:
I have written about Holland before , many local councils and nimbys and greens are turning against MH in Holland Nijmegan has removed the licences and parking from all it MH sites when I visited in 2023 .. the police said MH were not permitted to park anywhere in the city and all the MH sites within 6km had been closed . We were told to move on or get 200euro fine or have our Van impounded . there was dutch couple in a van down by the river who was getting the same treatment , we had only been in Nijmegan 2 hours ....

many of my dutch MH friend have told me similar stories , and as I said many are leaving there vans in Germany , they avoid MH journies in their own country , also othe MH travellers from France, germany and Denmark warned me about changing attitudes in Holland ???

Next time im going Belgium to Germany and will only transit Holland Im not wasting any money there
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Bit like Scarborough only bigger :rofl:
 
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Wildbill said:
The only hostility and snobbery I have ever experienced has Ben other motorhomers.
I don’t think I have ever really had problems with other road users
Apart form a young guy that ran in to my van in a car park.
But in general I find the gin plaice dwellers intolerable.
Especially the British and sum Germans but most of the other ones seem ok including the French and Italians
Don’t know what all the snobbery about we all shite in a box take water from a dirty tap and carry our shite around with us
WB
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It's called "the narcissism of small differences". Quite well-documented since being named by Freud!
 
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We used our van pretty much only in Europe, the only driving we generally do is to the mot station and to Newhaven. We have never had hostility in Europe, the occasional mad driving in Italy but nothing that felt personal. Mainly been met with helpfulness and huge friendliness from other European motorhoners , truly a delight. Our only negative experience was in the UK coming ack from our very first trip in the van, so still rookies. We had driven up from Greece with no issues into increasing horrible weather, culminating in a sleet storm as we drove home from Newhaven along the A/ M27. It was three days before Christmas and I have never seen such inconsiderate and downright dangerous driving. We were cut up several times, verbally abused on the motorway down to the New Forest ( angry white van man, think he thought we were tourists on a jolly) and arrived home thoroughly disheartened with motorhoming in the UK.
Our particular area is not very motorhome friendly, the local council is busily putting parking restrictions in where people could previously stop and even overnight if they were considerate. But very entitled people who live bear the sea front started getting extremely aggressive with anyone parking anywhere near their houses and subsequently the council jumped at the chance of putting in payment machines and restrictions. Frankly, I can't be arsed with the horrendously busy roads, the negative attitudes held by some towards motorhomes and the increasing restrictions which mean that one frequently has little choice other than over priced camp sites . So New Forest to Newhaven will probably remain our most used route !

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Never experienced any issues in 30 odd years of motorhoming and that includes 2 guys travelling together when it was deemed less acceptable by some. Even shared a BBQ with some very rough Polish bikers in Portugal about 25 years ago and were complimented that we were two cool guys even if we were queer 😂😂😂
In summary we find people react on how you treat them. I’m always first to say hello and help where I can and this has led to many a friendships forming over the years. We have many true friends which were formed by a simple hello and smile on a campsite, stop over, field etc.
 
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I think it will be interesting to see what reports are like from Holland ,,,, This year ???? We know UK is not very MOHO friendly either by neglect or deliberate design .. But Nijmegan used to have 4 MH private camping sites and 3 approved council sites and parking and now due to local legislation ,there are none ????
 
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cyberyacht said:
I was thinking of going this year. Perhaps I should just drive through/bypass and head for Denmark. Other than a city break, haven't been to Holland for thirty years and that was with a caravan. What do Funsters think?
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We spent a couple of weeks in Holland last year, I like the country, never had any MH hostility.

The Harwich/Hoek of Holland is always our chosen UK exit route (unless heading for Spain), so we pass through most years at least once.
We always stay in Dutch campsites, (along with lots of other MoHo's), never had an issue.

It should be remembered that stealth camping in Holland is not permitted, (and never has been) so if you 'appear' to be spending the night in a secluded spot (in the most crowded country in Europe!) then you can expect to get moved on if found.

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jerryz said:
I think it will be interesting to see what reports are like from Holland ,,,, This year ???? We know UK is not very MOHO friendly either by neglect or deliberate design .. But Nijmegan used to have 4 MH private camping sites and 3 approved council sites and parking and now due to local legislation ,there are none ????
Click to expand...
Looks to me like there are still loads of campsites around Nijmegen

1736334131124.webp
 
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Yes the map shows them But when you turn up they a closed , or derelict ,, we tried 6 places in early september 23 , and the police were very adament when I was stopped by them that all Nijmegan sites are not allowed and aggressive in moving MHs on ... maybe this year things are different ???
 
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We've not had ours long enough to experience hostility in the UK or Europe. However, we did experience quite a bit of hostility in the US on our last trip, mostly around parking our 21ft rental, lawfully I might add, in disabled van accessible parking spaces.
 
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Tiger Bear said:
We've not had ours long enough to experience hostility in the UK or Europe. However, we did experience quite a bit of hostility in the US on our last trip, mostly around parking our 21ft rental, lawfully I might add, in disabled van accessible parking spaces.
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Does the USA not havs a 'Blue Badge; system, or equivalent.
 
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jerryz said:
Yes the map shows them But when you turn up they a closed , or derelict ,, we tried 6 places in early september 23 , and the police were very adament when I was stopped by them that all Nijmegan sites are not allowed and aggressive in moving MHs on ... maybe this year things are different ???
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Might that be down to your van not being a euro 6 and you being in a prohibited zone?
6 or 7 of the 8 or 9 sites on park4 night have reviews from 2024 so were obviously open last year.

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