Are caravan owners taking liberties or just the same as us?

ambulancekidd

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Since 1964 Gosh that makes me feel old.
Today my mate & I went for a wee jaunt down the south Ayrshire coast to get some Ayrshire spuds, if you've never tried them I feel sorry for you, they put Jersey Royals to shame.

It was a beautiful day with lovely views of Arran, the Mull of Kintyre & northern Ireland, so after getting the spuds we went to Girvan for an ice cream & headed down to the car park at the beach.
This car park has been used by motorhomes for decades & there has never been any trouble.
The first thing I noticed were some caravans parked & locked up with no sign of any owners which I think is just wrong, I was really disappointed to see this.
They weren't travellers, just common or garden small caravans.

With a motorhome/campervan you can leave quite quickly if your asked to move on & we can do so without grumble.
A caravan is a totally different beast & in my view they are pushing their luck & in the process they risk us being ousted permanently.

This car park has always been an excellent place to watch the northern lights as your looking north over the sea with no bright lights to spoil your view, so as such its a great place to stop over in winter & the carpark is tarmacked so no mud trailed into your van.
I do realise that wild camping is in the strictest terms unlawful but, is largely ignored by the authorities in this neck of the woods.

My question is "am I being a misery guts or unfair in my dislike of caravans using this or for that matter any car park"?

I was a caravan owner for many years but, would never have considered wild camping much less setting it up then going home & using it at weekends.

Rant over.....Robert.
 
No difference to some motorhomes , we were in Corby yesterday for a Fiat service. Went to the local retail park at 9am to find a MH I the car park ( blinds just open)
Still there five hours later,
Another older mh on the road out looked like it had been there months.
This is what gets MH a bad reputation,you can not live for free for a long period of time!
 
Was reading an item the other day that white motorhome owners should not wild camp in the highlands because they stick out like a sore thumb (yes I will take camouflage nets): that they should come with empty fridges (I bet he doesn’t refuel at an extra 20p to the litre) and shouldn’t share a quiet location (try that one in France).
 
I think the biggest difference is that most motorhome will stay 1 max 2 nights but I’m guessing a caravan might be there for much longer. Were they hitched?

My friend and her husband grow our lovely Ayrshire potatoes at their farm at Turnberry.

A couple of weeks they caught a ‘gentleman’ and his wife from one of the caravans, in their field digging up their seed potatoes. Nice.

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We were there a few weeks ago saw the same couple of caravans. That being said the town looked very run down I think they probably need all the business they can get
 
No grey water waste tanks on caravans and few of them have fresh water tanks.
In a moho we can go for some time without having to dump waste, where do these caravans get water and dump their waste?

Richard.
 
No grey water waste tanks on caravans and few of them have fresh water tanks.
In a moho we can go for some time without having to dump waste, where do these caravans get water and dump their waste?

Richard.
The owner of one of them has a tipper truck so presumably takes/fetches in that!!!!!. Must say we much preferred Port Logan
 
We were tuggers for years, the only place we ever did that was in a small village in Kent outside the Father in-laws shop, so we had facilities at our disposal.
We would never do it anywhere else. In Germany some Stellplatz allow carsvans, seen the odd one in France on an Aire normally the Aires that are just a grass field.
 
A caravan is a totally different beast & in my view they are pushing their luck & in the process they risk us being ousted permanently.

I'm with you on this one Robert.

A caravan looks more permanent and it certainly gives the perception that liberties are being taken if parked up with its containers hooked-up outside.

A motorhome just looks more temporary to me and therefore a wee bit more acceptable; just a wee bit though.

That said, I would hate to live in some communities where they have to endure illegally parked caravans and motorhomes because it just looks bloody awful and unsightly to me.

There's just far to many motorhomes and tuggers on the road these days and more and more of them are beginning to create problems as their owners endeavour to find cheaper alternatives to expensive campsites.

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I wonder if there is a legal difference? A motorhome is registered, insured and traceable but an unhitched caravan is just a trailer.
 
We are regular users of Mill Lane in Arundel, along with up to ten or more other MHs at weekends. The locals are happy with the visiting Mhs and have done so for several years. Problems have now started with some long term MH park ups and two unhitched caravans.

I understand that the local Counsel had considered imposing " No motorhome" restrictions from 10pm to 6am. This at the time was rejected but it appears this may be reviewed due to the "long term' street camping.

Dealing with black waste, I witnessed one of the 'long term ' parkers loading the cassette into an old blue Ikea bag and trot off to the 'just opened' public toilets by the museum and proceed to dump.

This will kill off the parking I'm sure.

In any case whilst it is still available, give Arundel a try as a stop over for a couple of nights at the weekend. Open air swimming pool, two of the pubs, Red Lion and The Eagle have band nights on Saturdays along with some nice eateries if you are going to treat yourselves.
 
We are regular users of Mill Lane in Arundel, along with up to ten or more other MHs at weekends. The locals are happy with the visiting Mhs and have done so for several years. Problems have now started with some long term MH park ups and two unhitched caravans.
The area behind the carpark allows overnighting for £10. Does get closed if there is heavy rain and high tides, grass gets a bit boggy.
 
This is what gets MH a bad reputation,you can not live for free for a long period of time!

I don't think that wild camping has anything to do with "live for free" it isn't about money.
A motorhome/campervan is able to stand alone for a reason, they're beautifully self contained whereas caravans aren't.
I wasn't in our motorhome, just the car & went down to the front purely for the view.

I should have taken a photo of these caravans, one of the had two cylinders of gas sitting at the front, so not in the gas locker, if that's not an arrogant statement saying "I'm staying for a while" I don't know what is.

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander...

I disagree but I do respect your opinion, that's why I put this posting on in the first place.
Read what I've written about a caravans gas cylinder in the above quote, most motorhome folks are wise enough & polite enough to move on after one night.

I live on the edge of the Galloway Forest Park & can wild camp completely out of site of anyone including the rangers, so I don't believe that I'm doing any harm, the attraction for me is the solitude & fabulous views of the stars.
If I lived in the south of England I certainly wouldn't be so inclined to wild camp as it'd be quite difficult to be properly out of sight of someone's house etc, it may be different in the south this statement is just the impression I get.

We were there a few weeks ago saw the same couple of caravans. That being said the town looked very run down I think they probably need all the business they can get

I agree with your comments about Girvan, it used to be a really pretty seaside town & as kids we adored going there in our "caravanette" however like most of Britain's seaside towns Girvan has suffered from lack of investment.
Port Logan is a very small hamlet & is beautiful but, doesn't have the sea vista which Girvan has.

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Dealing with black waste, I witnessed one of the 'long term ' parkers loading the cassette into an old blue Ikea bag and
Hi
It is one of the ways to empty your cassette properly and discreetly,as long as you leave the cubicle clean,whats the problem. Whereas,emptying it out down drains or in bushes around a car park?.... THATS what closed a super Aire? at Praia de Mira. If you look around when out and about,Public Toilets have all but disappeared.
Tea Bag
 
Read what I've written about a caravans gas cylinder in the above quote, most motorhome folks are wise enough & polite enough to move on after one night.

I get your point but I am unsure that motorhomers, as a collective, are any better.

There was a great facility for motorhomes to stay overnight in Beach Road carpark on Hayling Island, unfortunately now lost due to a small number of motorhomers being unable to see that their own behaviour would cause its loss.

There are a number of places around the south coast where motorhomes are being used for extended holidays and in Swanage, I noticed a couple parked up on the side street towards Ulwell that appear to be only used at weekends as holiday cottages!

However, in both your example and in mine, we are only talking about a small group of selfish bellends who fail to see that it doesn’t matter if no-one knocks on the door to politely send them on their way. Just because they get away with it at the time doesn’t mean that the locals aren’t banging on the doors of the council office and complaining to their councillors, leading to yet another place closed to those of us who play by the rules.
 
However, in both your example and in mine, we are only talking about a small group of selfish bellends who fail to see that it doesn’t matter if no-one knocks on the door to politely send them on their way. Just because they get away with it at the time doesn’t mean that the locals aren’t banging on the doors of the council office and complaining to their councillors, leading to yet another place closed to those of us who play by the rules.

Yes its the ignorant numb nuts who cost us dear.
We strive to be accepted as a responsible bunch & are let down by the few who cannot behave properly.

Its a shame the councils don't have the foresight to get after the long stay abusers & realise that most motorhome folks spend money in the local economy but, councils all seem to be blinkered by their hatred of any form of vehicle with an engine.
That's one of the reasons why British high streets are deserted, huge wide pavements with no pedestrians & nowhere for folk to park conveniently to visit the high street shops.
Wonder what excuse they'll come up with when we shift over to electric cars?
That'll be fun.
 
I suppose that it is an alternative to sleeping in shop doorways for some too?. Living hand to mouth is not exactly a bed of roses?. There where a fair number of contractors, who used to go from job to job and would park up in the yard (if they could) or in the adjacent neighbourhood if not. We where involved in rig re-commissioning back in the 90`s, and had a fair number of older caravans littered about used as accommodation during the work week and empty all weekend or some mix of both depending on how the schedule went. I had a 28ft R-V parked next to our "office" (Portakabin) for 6 weeks on one job!, complete with 40Kg Propane tank and extendastay, much better than many of the "hotels" on offer.
 
No grey water waste tanks on caravans and few of them have fresh water tanks.
In a moho we can go for some time without having to dump waste, where do these caravans get water and dump their waste?

Richard.
Maybe that's why the tatties taste so good?
Cheers, Dave(y)
 
Today my mate & I went for a wee jaunt down the south Ayrshire coast to get some Ayrshire spuds, if you've never tried them I feel sorry for you, they put Jersey Royals to shame.

It was a beautiful day with lovely views of Arran, the Mull of Kintyre & northern Ireland, so after getting the spuds we went to Girvan for an ice cream & headed down to the car park at the beach.
Sorry, I only got this far before I started filling up and having a small weep.

Mevsorry :(

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I wonder if there is a legal difference? A motorhome is registered, insured and traceable but an unhitched caravan is just a trailer.
Therefore if you owned a caravan, you- wouldn’t insure, make it traceable and de-register it with CRIS ?
 
Therefore if you owned a caravan, you- wouldn’t insure, make it traceable and de-register it with CRIS ?
I was just wondering about the legal difference and requirements. This might affect how the authorities view the issue. What I would do if I owned a caravan was not at issue.
 
I was just wondering about the legal difference and requirements. This might affect how the authorities view the issue. What I would do if I owned a caravan was not at issue.
Not being personal at all, only, that ‘if’ you or ‘i’ owned a caravan. Units have been registered with CRIS for years, whether they’re insured is another issue (y)
 
I suppose that it is an alternative to sleeping in shop doorways for some too?. Living hand to mouth is not exactly a bed of roses?. There where a fair number of contractors, who used to go from job to job and would park up in the yard (if they could) or in the adjacent neighbourhood if not. We where involved in rig re-commissioning back in the 90`s, and had a fair number of older caravans littered about used as accommodation during the work week and empty all weekend or some mix of both depending on how the schedule went. I had a 28ft R-V parked next to our "office" (Portakabin) for 6 weeks on one job!, complete with 40Kg Propane tank and extendastay, much better than many of the "hotels" on offer.
This is a good point and with the current housing crisis in the UK and unemployment zero hour contracts and low wages vanlife is becoming more of a thing ....And some have caravans.

So my guess is while they weren't travellers they may well have lived in the caravans full time and may well have some casual work in the area.

Can't blame them really , some folk have little choice.
That young lad I met in France last week was homeless and lived in an old beat up motorhome that looked like it shouldn't be on the road.

But if it's that or a doorway, park bench etc


Ive had a camper van since age 17 and had them for years ...When kids came along I had caravans but even in Scotland in the highlands etc I never wildcamped ...thats why I returned to motorhomes so I never have to use a site.



I've used public toilets ( discreetly ) for years to empty cassettes , no chemicals just natural waste the same as the coach party of tourists left in the pan before me.
I make sure I take wet wipes and paper to clean any trace behind me. I've even on occasion sprayed air freshener.



In the end I wouldn't park a caravan in a carpark and leave it sat with cylinders etc out ....Not my style

But we don't know the story behind the owners actions.


Someday I may well be a carpark dweller lol
 
We wild camped in Spain last year with several other MHs. The local plod drove past several times a day and so it would seem we were tolerated. One day a car and caravan arrived, plod wasn’t happy and the next day the caravan was removed.

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