Ken P Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Hi all, My first post but I have been reading for months. We have just bought a yr 2001 Pilote Galaxy 270 after a lot of heart searching, we have never caravanned or MH'd before. Though I researched, my big sin was no damp check and I hope it doesnt come back to bite me on the bum (can I write bum?). Loads of questions and TONS of learning but for starters can some/any of you give me a condensed version of the legality and also etiquette of parking/sleeping overnight on roadsides/lay-byes/car parks etc in the UK. I know I am ignorant but really do appreciate the advice given on this forum. TIA Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crinklystarfish Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 The overarching position is that it is not illegal for a single 'van to 'overnight' in places to which the public have unconditional legitimate access, unless specifically prohibited by bye-laws. There is no 'code' that binds those that do it. Some do it very responsibly, keep a very low profile, and leave places cleaner than they found them: others are little better than travelling gypsies and are brash, messy, and offensive. Not entirely sure what you envision with lay-bys and roadsides - they would need to be quiet roads to nowhere if you wanted a reasonable overnighting experience. Car parks often have local orders that prohibit cooking / sleeping etc. You need to check on a site by site basis. A few local authorities actually provide specific overnighting areas; they are rare though. Many find informal overnighting too stressful in the UK and instead stop on more 'formal' areas. Some of these are exemplified by the bigger clubs' Certified Location / Certified Site schemes, the Motorhome Stopovers initiative, Truckstops, and the rest. If you do it, expect to be the object of suspicion and resentment. I can't vouch for the below, but it seems fairly popular: http://www.wildcamping.co.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 France ! ! ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggyd Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 I would advise to join one of the clubs and get a proper experience of camping, they will supply you with big sites books also Cs or CL locations they are small 5 van sites and cheaper than the big sites. Once you have settled into your Van you will gain confidence and start to discover other locations to stay ie; wild camping or going abroad to ~France and Germany etc; where they are much more Motor home tolerant.. You have spent a lot of money on your new van dont spoil the experience by roughing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindiboy Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 http://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/general-chat/ This is the Forum you need for Wildcamping, it is a great site and very helpful people, they have a Data Base of Wild Camping places but you have to be a full member to access that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordThornber Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Hi Ken & welcome, well you've asked a real "can of worms opener" there in my view, and that's not a criticism. You've possibly used the search facility by now to find some info on the parking situation but if not, have a go and prepare to blow your mind. There's already been a view expressed by Maggy which may (will more like), inflame some, the roughing it comment. Personally I agree with her 100% but each to their own applies as ever. There are so many ways to camp. You'll find what suits you by just doing it. I know for a fact that if I'd rammed the lay bys and pub car parks route down my Missus's throat at the start - then the van would have been for sale in an instant. As for the legal side of overnighting, well for me the very fact that you're asking means you have a concern. See a Solicitor or the Police at the very least if it bothers you that much, I doubt there's anyone on here fully qualified to give you chapter & verse. If there was, they'd be charging you wouldn't they? Joining one of the "big two" clubs is a good place to start, you may hate the sites but love the cl's and cs's or vice versa for that matter. There's folk on here who think that free is too much, you'll get used to that though. As for France, well for a beginner like you, good luck but I'd get a grounding, literally, in the UK first. Just my thoughts, good luck and enjoy it whatever road you choose to go down. Martyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merle Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Hi, and welcome to the world of waving wanderers (well most of them do!). It's definately worth a look at the Motor Caravaners Club motorcaravanners.eu/ they have both C/L's (5 van sites) nightstops (quite often pub carparks or adjacent land and usually for a single night) and safe knights (other members withenough space for you to overnight) all with the added advantage (personal opinion) of motorhomes only. Merle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Ken, my first reply ( France ) was being rather flippant, but sadly the UK is just about the most M/home unfriendly country in Europe. You will encounter bye-laws that prohibit even cooking in your van, most local authorities have bye-laws prohibiting sleeping overnight in your vehicle. Even choosing to ignore that you then encounter where to take on fresh water, dump your waste, empty your toilet etc. and the possibility of being knocked up in the middle of the night, by God knows who, why would anyone want to take the chance. Do yourself a BIG favour join something like the CCC, and make use of thier CS sites which can be had for around a tenner a night, a small price to pay for security and no hassle. Once you've had a go in the UK DO try France, and see what a different attitude, and sheer ease of Motorhoming the country offers, and in many cases the free or minimal cost of Aires, not to mention Municipal sites for around £10 a night, you'll love it. Good luck. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_C Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Merle - 2012-04-15 6:19 PM Hi, and welcome to the world of waving wanderers (well most of them do!). It's definately worth a look at the Motor Caravaners Club motorcaravanners.eu/ they have both C/L's (5 van sites) nightstops (quite often pub carparks or adjacent land and usually for a single night) and safe knights (other members withenough space for you to overnight) all with the added advantage (personal opinion) of motorhomes only. Merle The Motor Caravanners Club CL sites and the Nightstop locations can be used by anyone - you don't need to be a member. The Nightstops are a collaboration between Practical Motorhome magazine and the club, PM pick them and the MCC licence them. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_C Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Regarding 'parking' overnight, my listing here may be of use: http://www.ukmotorhomes.net/uk-motorhome-stopovers.shtml Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Sorry guys,I'm sure you mean well, but I think you really would have to have sadomasochism tendencies to wade through all that stuff, PCN if your not gone by 8 am in some cases, phone before arrival, facility may withdrawn at a moments notice, toilets closed at 5 pm, £10 in others for a bloody car park, height barrier may be in use,key is held in toilets, (machynleth) where I know for a fact the toilets are closed most of the time) I mean sorry but why bother, and hardly a good introduction for a newbie, he'll just give up on it first time out, Ken join one of the major clubs, end of. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_C Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 1footinthegrave - 2012-04-15 7:07 PM Ken join one of the major clubs, end of. ;-) And pay £10 or £12 to park in a field in the middle of nowhere... ;-) The OP did ask specifically about parking/sleeping overnight on roadsides/lay-byes/car parks - not fields! Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barryd999 Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Wild or free camping is what it's all about! Being stuck on some crappy cc campsite concrete jungle surrounded by vans with twitchy net curtains is not my idea of freedom. There are loads of places you cab wild camp in the uk and it generally gets easier the further north you go and scotland and the islands are better still. If you like it then definately pay for a subscription to www.wildcamping.co.uk and download the 4000 or so poi files for the sat nav. Having said all that it's not always possible or desirable to find a nice wild spot so joining the caravan club for their 2500 Cl 5 van sites is a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertandjean Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 1 foot was spot on in his first response. If you want to park overnight without using sites then go to France and make use of the aires network. PM us for more info re guides and how easy it is; once you have done it you will not want to bother with U.K. (although many on here will disagree with us and this is just our opinion). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tugga Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 there is also Brit Stops for £20 per year, parking in vineyards and pubs for free. Not roadsides, but certainly a fair amount of freedom I would expect and its legal. http://www.britstops.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Andy_C - 2012-04-15 7:20 PM 1footinthegrave - 2012-04-15 7:07 PM Ken join one of the major clubs, end of. ;-) And pay £10 or £12 to park in a field in the middle of nowhere... ;-) The OP did ask specifically about parking/sleeping overnight on roadsides/lay-byes/car parks - not fields! Andy Oh sorry mate, my mistake, there's me thinking he may want a peaceful quite secure spot to sleep as he's new to it all. My advise is different now you've put me right, just stop on any old lay-by, listen to the traffic thunder by all night, or try a car park and hope you don't get the boy racers turn up doing handbrake turns half the night,or banging on the side of your van for a laugh, mind you set the alarm to get up early in the morning to avoid the pay and display charges though that often kick in around 7 or 8 am, or you may get a council £60 penalty notice, that may make £10 for a CS seem a bargain though. Not sure what you'll do with your bog contents though, perhaps slip out under the cover of darkness and use a drain. Or of course you could take the other blokes advise and head for Scotland, especially if your into persistent rain, cloud cover, and highland midges.There are loads of "wild" spots because for the most part the place is uninhabitable,and inhospitable, that's why most of the Scots headed south The bloke recommending it lives in the North Yorkshire dales, so I'm guessing he's fully acclimatised to crap weather, no offence intended But even he spends a lot of his time out of the UK if he's the same Hank the Tank I'm thinking of P.S I do not use the formal CCC sites, and would not, but the CS sites have some gems at a bargain price and at a maximum of 5 vans they are hardly concrete jungles. :D :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Ken What part of the country are you from? Some areas are better than others for low cost camping. Some areas are off the beaten track and wild camping would be ok. Wildcamping forums may help as a previous poster stated.. Some pubs allow you to stay free overnight but then you are obliged to spend there. I would prefer to pay a low fee to a pub then park for free as long as you have a meal. Sometimes meals can be expensive and cancel out a free pitch. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 1footinthegrave - 2012-04-15 6:27 PM sadly the UK is JUST ABOUT (my capitals) the most M/home unfriendly country in Europe. Do you know of any other European countries that are as unfriendly towards motorhomes as Britain? Incidentally, I think that Britain is the European country most obsessed with property prices, even to the extent that all the (borrowed) money has gone into inflating house prices instead of investment in productive industry, and I guess that might have something to do with the hostility towards motorhomes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tugga Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 And the UK is the MOST friendly towards Gypsy's and Pikey's!! They always seem to be able to park anywhere and it takes months to get rid of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barryd999 Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 1footinthegrave wrote "Or of course you could take the other blokes advise and head for Scotland, especially if your into persistent rain, cloud cover, and highland midges.There are loads of "wild" spots because for the most part the place is uninhabitable,and inhospitable, that's why most of the Scots headed south The bloke recommending it lives in the North Yorkshire dales, so I'm guessing he's fully acclimatised to crap weather, no offence intended But even he spends a lot of his time out of the UK if he's the same Hank the Tank I'm thinking of " This made me laugh!! I think you should help me write this year’s blog. Very funny. (lol) Your right about the crap weather (some of the time). Of course its tropical in southern England isn’t it? Yes we do spend the majority of our time abroad for all the reasons posted. Weather, Freedom for wilding or just general parking, using Aires etc but I wanted to give the chap another opinion other than that of the majority on here who seem more campsite orientated and consider wild camping one step removed from Glue sniffing. (some of us think the other way round but there you go!). I would never stay in a lay-by on a busy road or a car park where there is the chance of the inevitable boy racers turning up and I absolutely love the CL / CS five van sites but with a bit of work and searching there are some fantastic wild camping spots to be had even in this country. Getting water and emptying is never an issue as there are plenty of places to do this for free or plenty of CL sites around the country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 tugga - 2012-04-16 8:16 AM .....friendly towards Gypsy's and Pikey's!!.... ...Friendly towards "Gypsy's and Pikey's" what...? ;-) I think I would also advise the OP to start out by joining one of the main clubs for their cheap and plentiful CLs/CSs...which when chosen well,will give a peaceful pitch(possibly the site to yourself?),access to clean water etc,with room to sit outside the van with a beer and the bbq going(..can't do that parked in a layby or around the back of some industrial estate!)..and all for around a tenner... Also it's worth checking out the "pub stopover" type sites and adding them to the "portfolio"... ;-) The "idea" of "Wildcamping" is initially quite appealing but for the reasons others have given, ie lack of facilities,risk of disturbance by joy riders or idiots(or plod?)banging on the window etc, in the real world it may not always pan out to be that "ideal" .... Having said all of that,if it was just for somewhere to pull over late at night,mid-journey,with an early start planned,then the above may not be *such* an issue(...but I certainly wouldn't want to be planning my whole holiday around them!) I suppose it does also depend on the areas you're travelling in and also the vehicle being used(a vw sized van would be far more discreet than a 7mtr overcab coachbuilt ;-) ) It seems that "abroad" is the place to be..but at present,we've neither the time nor the funds to just "pop over" to the continent on a whim(..especially if it's just to save a couple of quid on a pitch fee! :-S ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crinklystarfish Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Yup, barryd999, that's about right. I've now spent several hundred nights wildcamping throughout mainland GB and have rarely had any disturbance - in fact I've been drifted / chosen to move more in France than here - the 'benchmark' m/h friendly country most are familiar with. I've also spent far more disturbed nights on CLs and most certainly on French 'aires'. (Though I have also spent time on utterly fabulous ones too). Wildcamping throughout the UK is NOT prohibitively hard to do and there are some genuinely fabulous spots. I've laid awake listening to nightingales and nightjars rather than boy racers, and the very last time out (2 weeks ago) deep in Thetford forest listened to deer barking before bed and watched muntjacks and Siskins over breakfast. I've found that most who think it's 'roughing it' or a somehow 'underground' experience are either crap at finding spots or haven't even tried - but are willing to put up a vociferous opposition anyway. Of course, there are a multitude of formal 'sites' of one description or another as I alluded to in my 1st post and they do, at least, guarantee perceived legitimacy. They are not for me though. Bears repeating, unless specifically prohibited, and as long as there is no trespass, it is not an offence to "park" overnight as the OP queried. It's a grand way to motorhome but, as I said before, be prepared for most to treat you with suspicion and derision. Disappointing thing, ignorance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Perhaps the advocates of "wild camping" could of instead of saying their are plenty of places to do it, could they help the bloke out by saying how and where from exactly they get 120 Litres of fresh water on a regular basis, empty their grey water, and their bog. As far as I'm aware the ONLY place on a car park this is available is Canterbury park and ride, or are there a service points dotted around Thetford forest and other fabulous wild camping spots, do tell please, I'm not ideologically opposed to the idea, but need some help, as no doubt the OP does.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Ken P The following website may be worth visiting as it provides an overview of parking 'legality' issues and some useful links: http://www.motorhomeparking.co.uk/ Personally, I wouldn't overnight in a UK lay-by or on the UK roadside, neither would I deliberately choose to do it abroad unless there were no alternative. If a UK car-park's regulations clearly permit overnight parking of motorhomes, then I just might overnight there, but only if there were a very chance I'd get a good night's sleep. Similarly, abroad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Derek Uzzell - 2012-04-16 9:34 AM Ken P The following website may be worth visiting as it provides an overview of parking 'legality' issues and some useful links: http://www.motorhomeparking.co.uk/ Personally, I wouldn't overnight in a UK lay-by or on the UK roadside, neither would I deliberately choose to do it abroad unless there were no alternative. If a UK car-park's regulations clearly permit overnight parking of motorhomes, then I just might overnight there, but only if there were a very chance I'd get a good night's sleep. Similarly, abroad. I agree Derek, the site has obviously been created with very good intentions, and if nothing else informs what a minefield the UK is in this regard. More and more car parks are being monitored by camera's set up by private companies who have direct access to DVLA, make sure you don't stay in one of those because although it has no basis in law you may well end up being pursued for an £80 "fine" as happened to me when we stayed on a Motorway service area for a daytime kip on the way down to Dover last year.We were "recorded" staying just 10 minutes over a 2 hour limit. >:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.