Pitch Marker Posts - A Hazard !!!!

[Dave and Ginny]

Hi all

After a brilliant few weeks in Shetland we stopped off on a way home at a Caravan Club site in Scotland. As per normal, at reception, it was pointed out to us how to pitch up and either put the nose or the back end of the motorhome to the right hand side of the pitch marker post.

Simples! Well unless you have a motorhome with the habitation door on the RHS of the vehicle, is this common or just on ours? :Blush:

Having driven all around the site to find a nice pitch (first gear only and at 5mph following the one-way system), we found a nice pitch with a pleasant sea view. To enjoy the view meant putting the rear RHS against the post which puts our door facing the awning of the unit beside us. To avoid being 'in their face' I flaunted the caravan club rules and pitched a few feet to the side of the post!

No-body seemed to mind my common sense approach, including the wardens and we went on to enjoy a nice couple of days.

Now, dogs are allowed on Caravan Club sites...the rules state to be on lead etc all the time

On the morning we were leaving I was up early, I peeked out from behind the blind to see a lovely sunny morning. On with my shorts, kettle switched on, outside I peek with a step down onto the nice short grass. Suddenly from under the van a 'Pug' dog appears and commences trying to take my toes out!!! In my attempt to avoid this and get back into the van I clout my foot on...yes, the pitch marker post.

It's a week on, plans for Spain may be on hold as I wait to see what my damaged achilles may need to have done to it. Before we left I reported the incident to the warden so that it may be logged. I have no idea who may have been the irresponsible dog owner; I suspect they may have heard my cries of agony and retreated into their caravan and took hiding.

I have mixed feelings about it...ok so I was not parked as the caravan club states, but motorhomes like ours with the habitation door on the right are common enough, so no provision taken for our foreign visitors or Brits with these vans. OK so I could have parked with the nose inwards and the door would have been on the 'correct' side...but we would have had no view. How many of us would that apply to?

As for pitch marker posts, I'm wondering what we all think of them, and how many of us may have fallen over them in the dark, going to the loo etc?

So, was it my own fault for not pitching 'as per the rules', the dog owner for letting the dog loose, or should I be questioning the wisdom of a piece of 2"x 2" sticking 12" out of the ground?

I thought when I went on this last holiday I might fall off my new bike...wrong! :Angry:

Dave, hobbling, Nottingham

 

[Jim]

Hope you lose the limp soon Dave:thumb:

 

[peter marshall]

We have just had a week at Broadway CC site in the Cotswold's, I was lining up the rear near side to the post has directed no problems with that that's the way they want it, BUT while I was concentrating on the post I nearly knocked the EHU post over missed it by about 12 inches. oh:oh:oh: Pete

 

[iandsm]

Dogs / Post

The dog should of course be on a lead but parking with the marker post so close to the door presents an obvious risk which was either not recognised or if it was, it was ignored for the sake of the view. Dog owner responsible for dog, motorhome owner responsible for motorhome positioning. (The marker posts can be pulled out of the ground easily and I doubt anyone would have noticed or objected if it was moved a foot or two away from the door once the motorhome was in situ, that would have removed the risk of falling over it.)

Sorry to sound so unsympathetic, sorry you were injured but I cannot see anything wrong with marker posts, I doubt there are many people who have fallen foul of them, Even though the dog should have been on a lead it wasn't the dogs fault that the post was so near your door.

Your complaint is with the dog's owner, and yourself, not the marker post.

 

[Jim]

I dislike marker posts where owners/wardens insist we put a left of right corner right on the marker. If I rent a pitch I like to park where I like on it, sometimes being a small van it might suit me to park across it or maybe I do that just to be awkward Some sites just love straight lines and order, I never stay on those for long.

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[bigfoot]

The good burgers of the clubs have totally ignore 'continental' layouts on vans, I wonder what our visitors from abroad think about their regimentation.
Dog owners have transgressed the rule far more than ignoring the pitch marker,which contributed to your injury. During all this the marker didn't move.

 

[Dave and Ginny]

The dog should of course be on a lead but parking with the marker post so close to the door presents an obvious risk which was either not recognised or if it was, it was ignored for the sake of the view. Dog owner responsible for dog, motorhome owner responsible for motorhome positioning. (The marker posts can be pulled out of the ground easily and I doubt anyone would have noticed or objected if it was moved a foot or two away from the door once the motorhome was in situ, that would have removed the risk of falling over it.)

Sorry to sound so unsympathetic, sorry you were injured but I cannot see anything wrong with marker posts, I doubt there are many people who have fallen foul of them, Even though the dog should have been on a lead it wasn't the dogs fault that the post was so near your door.

Your complaint is with the dog's owner, and yourself, not the marker post.

Thanks for your up front and honest reply.

The post was actually about 6 feet away from my door, and yes it was quite loose in the ground and I could have removed it. However, I did not expect to have to retreat rapidly from a dog. I'm saying that in my opinion they are an unnecessary hazard and that pitches can be marked in far safer ways. What about the hazard of a trip when the pitch is vacant? Without listing them all we have all come across far safer methods to mark a pitch.

Yes I do think the Caravan Club are to rigid with pitching, and I know I'm not alone in this opinion. Having paid £22.50 per night am I not entitled to be able to park in such a way as to enjoy the view?

 

[Dave and Ginny]

We have just had a week at Broadway CC site in the Cotswold's, I was lining up the rear near side to the post has directed no problems with that that's the way they want it, BUT while I was concentrating on the post I nearly knocked the EHU post over missed it by about 12 inches. oh:oh:oh: Pete

I wonder how many times this might have happened. Glad you didn't scratch the paint :thumb:

 

[iandsm]

Thanks for your up front and honest reply.

The post was actually about 6 feet away from my door, and yes it was quite loose in the ground and I could have removed it. However, I did not expect to have to retreat rapidly from a dog. I'm saying that in my opinion they are an unnecessary hazard and that pitches can be marked in far safer ways. What about the hazard of a trip when the pitch is vacant? Without listing them all we have all come across far safer methods to mark a pitch.

Yes I do think the Caravan Club are to rigid with pitching, and I know I'm not alone in this opinion. Having paid £22.50 per night am I not entitled to be able to park in such a way as to enjoy the view?

Well you were indeed unfortunate if the post was six feet away and yes I agree that you should be able to park as you wish within your pitch, so long as you do not make things unpleasant for the people on the next pitch. Personally I have not had any problems with our Rapido in the UK(door on right) neither with pitch pegs as I move them to the back of a pitch where I won't encounter them either voluntarily or if chased.

Incidentally, I have been on a number of sites, mostly in France and Germany where instead of posts they had 12" square paving slabs set in the grass at the front of the pitch, easy to see and you can't fall over them!

 

[Dave and Ginny]

The good burgers of the clubs have totally ignore 'continental' layouts on vans, I wonder what our visitors from abroad think about their regimentation.
Dog owners have transgressed the rule far more than ignoring the pitch marker,which contributed to your injury. During all this the marker didn't move.

Thanks Bigfoot, yes, on the morning as we left I made it clear to the warden that I held the irresponsible dog owner accountable and not the CC which I thoroughly enjoy membership of. It's only on reflection that I find myself also questioning the merits of a post sticking out of ground on a grass pitch.

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[hilldweller]

Hope you lose the limp soon Dave:thumb:

He's sure to come up with a lame excuse.

 

[Dave and Ginny]

Well you were indeed unfortunate if the post was six feet away and yes I agree that you should be able to park as you wish within your pitch, so long as you do not make things unpleasant for the people on the next pitch. Personally I have not had any problems with our Rapido in the UK(door on right) neither with pitch pegs as I move them to the back of a pitch where I won't encounter them either voluntarily or if chased.

Incidentally, I have been on a number of sites, mostly in France and Germany where instead of posts they had 12" square paving slabs set in the grass at the front of the pitch, easy to see and you can't fall over them!

The reason I moved over a little from the post was so that we would not be uncomfortably close to the folks beside us as our door was facing them. Yes, the slabs in my opinion are just one of a number of safer methods.

 

[Dave and Ginny]

He's sure to come up with a lame excuse.

Well at least it's getting me out of all the gardening that usually needs to be done when we've had a long break away!