MJG Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 To those who have such vans how much of a problems is this in practice?? I can see it's obviously not an issue abroad but in the UK? Is it a none issue? or a bit of a pain. Thanks for any thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogher Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Not a problem for me, but you do need to take care, especially if you’re a ‘liner’ design with no other doors. It could be an issue for me if I had to stop on a hard shoulder but, hopefully, that won’t ever happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spadge Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Not a problem for me, our's is a left hooker so out the drivers door we go ! Using the habitation door is done with great care though ! ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 When buying our van, I did wonder if it would be a problem, but its not been any problem at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wasnt Me Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Ours is on the 'wrong side' and its not a problem at all. It's the only can we have had so don't know any different. I have read that some caravan club sites make you pitch a certain way and this causes a problem. Although I never stayed at one or anywhere that has told us how to pitch. I guess when parking in a roadside bay it is not ideal getting out in to the road. We all got out the front when we did this. Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 In the UK, drivers get out on the offside. It's only nearside passengers that get out on the nearside. I've had 3 a-classes in the last 13 years. One had just a single offside door, the others had a door on the passenger side as well as the offside. You open the offside door with care and check before fully opening it and lowering the step. On our current van, we can see the wing mirror and so can see traffic coming before we step out. You are right to be wary, especially if you have excitable youngsters, but in reality it's not been a problem for us or when we had children. A tip is for the driver to be last to leave so s/he can watch for traffic in the wing mirror as the youngsters leave via the offside door. Another is to get in quick! But, and there has to be at least one but, when you are on site, your door may be opposite the door of the person on the adjacent pitch if they are in a UK spec van. Some people don't like it. We don't mind and usually keep our door open when in situ. So not an issue but a pain at first until you get used to it. Don't let it put you off the right van. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJG Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 Interesting replies thanks every body. Obviously the reason for asking is that I am quite taken with some of the continental vans and have seen some with the exact layout that we like. The other thing is that because of the way it would be parked at home for loading/unloading it actually would be easier to have the habitation area door on the RHD drivers side. Plus thinking about on the type of Mh we are thinking about anybody travelling in the habitation area could exit the MH via. the cab passenger side door in a breakdown situation as I think is being suggested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Only ever had vans with habitation door on RHD never found it a problem, I think It's UK vans that have the door on the wrong side as we hardly ever use the van in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogher Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 If your habitation door is on the ‘wrong’ side of a pitch, you can reverse in rather than drive (or vice versa). It’s most likely you’ll have a cab door on the near side, should you need to exit on the road. It’s only the expensive liners that do not afford the extra door(s). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 It is a good thing to have because when you pull on to a Site, you know immediately if the Warden is an asshole or not by his reaction. I have even had a problem on a Temporary Holiday Site (which was a 40 acre field with just a few vans on) where the Steward (a Tugger, naturally) scratched his head and wondered where he was going to place me because of the hab door position ....... and also the fact that I was very long (8.2 metres *-) ) Needless to say, we only stayed the one night as there seemed to be a rule for everything. >:-( And it was rigidly enforced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 747 - 2015-02-08 11:47 PM It is a good thing to have because when you pull on to a Site, you know immediately if the Warden is an asshole or not by his reaction. I have even had a problem on a Temporary Holiday Site (which was a 40 acre field with just a few vans on) where the Steward (a Tugger, naturally) scratched his head and wondered where he was going to place me because of the hab door position ....... and also the fact that I was very long (8.2 metres *-) ) Needless to say, we only stayed the one night as there seemed to be a rule for everything. >:-( And it was rigidly enforced. :D :D :D :D :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Mornin'.. Our previous van was "Continental handed" and although I initially thought it'd be awkward, in reality it made no odds(..and that was with just UK use). Although,it would depend on how you use it and where you park it I suppose. If it's to be used as a second vehicle, in the UK and you're routinely carrying passengers, then It would be more of an issue. 99.9% of site wardens/owners/managers that we've met have been well aware of- and knew how best to orientate- an offside habitation doored van. (but the anecdotes involving the 0.1% tend to have more "mileage" in them... ;-) ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 No problem at all, park which ever way round you feel, all fully allowed by bot main Clubs. if warden gets uppity tell him to contact HQ as its perfectly ok to park nose in or out, MH or caravan. if warden gets really uppity, bugger off to France! enjoy, and ignore any doom merchants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogher Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 When I visit the regimented club I recall being routinely told how to reverse onto a pitch by reference to driver’s side and a peg. The whole script assumes you have UK style habitation door and RHD vehicle. I think the wardens must attend the same training course where a part of it is to learn this “welcome speech”. I must pay more attention, next time, because they also ask if I’ve been there before but I’m not sure it changes their patter at all. I think they still tell you how to pitch. My memory is so short that I’ve forgotten the instructions by the time I’ve filled with water and found a pitch. I park whichever way round that suits me but respect the spacing between vehicles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupert123 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 We have a UK built van so door is on the proper side but when in euro land, where they not only have door on wrong side but drive on the wrong side as well we have no problems with it. Not sure why it would ever be a problem, the only time it is used is when parked up, unless of course you have one of those strange 'A' class things that have no drivers door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 'The Left side is the Right Side,the Right side is the Wrong side'. (my old driving instructors 'mantra'), I Find it 'Odd' that we are allowed to own & use Motorhomes, that are clearly not 'Designed' for use in the UK. In most of the rest of Europe such a vehicle (a UK designed and 'Handed' one) would not be able to be registered in their Country, and would in effect be banned, although their Temporary use is allowed under the 'Vienna Convention' for Tourists, and I believe for a limited period for 'New' residents. A bit 'One sided' don't you think ?? or is it just me ? A limit on 'Free trade' surely ? Anyway, I like many features of European vans, the 'No Wood' , Double floor construction,The 'True' Winterisation and the Quality that I have seen (i have never owned one, so don't know if this is universally true ?). HOWEVER, I, (we) have never seen a layout that would suit us, and we have looked, I will list our 'NO WAYS' : No climbing to get into Bed, or sleeping at a Height (disabled), No Fixed table, (obstruction) No 'Pullman Dinette' (usually means, no flat out,lounging space). No 'Tech Tower' but an oven at a resonable height AND spark ignition for oven and hob.(a MUST), Must have a Spare Wheel. Not worried if over 3500kgs. Our search has included many 'so called' luxury European Brands like Carthago,Neisman & Birchoff, Concorde Etc., as well as Rapido, Hymer and the like. None of them could fulfil even a few of our wants/Don't wants. AND they cannot be 'Bothered' to put the Habitation doors on the 'correct' side for the UK market, I think Pilote 'used to' but even they don't any more. ? why ? I wonder. We DON'T drive in Europe, because we tow our (disabled converted) Car on an A-frame. Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 I don't understand the fuss about which side the habitation door is, you get out of your van on the right hand side, or would anyone shuffle across to the passenger side before getting out. :-S and amazingly Rapido did take the time and "bother" and build our van on a UK spec chassis cab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Joe90 - 2015-02-09 12:24 PM I don't understand the fuss about which side the habitation door is, you get out of your van on the right hand side, or do you shuffle across to the passenger side before getting out. :-S I think that it is mainly a safety issue when in Transit, and more so for Children. If stopped at the side of the road, they step straight out into overtaking traffic. Apart from that, I agree it's irrelevent. Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJG Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 For anybody interested there is a Continental built MH that is 'handed' for the UK featured in March's MMM magazine. The Spanish built Benimar Mileo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 747 - 2015-02-08 11:47 PM It is a good thing to have because when you pull on to a Site, you know immediately if the Warden is an asshole or not by his reaction. I have even had a problem on a Temporary Holiday Site (which was a 40 acre field with just a few vans on) where the Steward (a Tugger, naturally) scratched his head and wondered where he was going to place me because of the hab door position ....... and also the fact that I was very long (8.2 metres *-) ) Needless to say, we only stayed the one night as there seemed to be a rule for everything. >:-( And it was rigidly enforced. We've had LHD MHs for yonks and once upon a time on CC or C&CC Sites this sort of thing could happen but fortunately it's extremely unlikely that a warden would raise it as an issue and certainly on CC sites you could now point out that the "official" interpretation of the pitching rules is that a MH may be parked either nose in or tail in, at the owner's rather than the warden's discretion. But it used to be potentially very contentious and I remember arriving at the Kessingland site, which is split by a road into a beachside and inland areas, and the wardens wife, manning reception, having noticed we were in a Hymer, launched straight into an edict that if we parked beachside we would have to face inland, because our habitation door was on the wrong side. I didn't argue but when we moved on to the beachside area the warden was there, doing some gardenning, so I asked him which way around we should pitch and told me to please myself, so we did, and faced the sea. A few minutes later his wife appeared and i saw her giving him a really hard time but she didn't come anywhere near us. I'd already got my own back on her. We'd come from another club site and the friendly reception team had handed us a feedback survey form to fill in, with tick boxes for things like whether the reception was friendly and welcoming. After she'd kicked off with her little party piece about which way we could park (whcih was clealry a thing of hers which she was determined to enforce) I'd already asked her for one of these forms, which hadn't been volunteered, and made an ostentatious point of ticking "terrible" as my assesment of her reception performance. I handed the form in to her as we left the site and I don't suppose for a moment that it went any further than her but it was nevertheless a satisfying outcome and she did have enough sense not to say anything else. We've had LHD MHs for over 20 years and rarely has the offside habitation door been an issue. Parking, as we had to once, on a busy and fairly narrow road it would have been hazardous to use the habitation door because of passing traffic, so we use the driver's door instead. Only once in 20 years as best I can recall. The internal layout of continental MHs is sometimes optimised for LHD and having a steering wheel on the right can make it more difficult to turn the front seats around for lounging purposes. I prefer LHD overall; you rarely overtake in a MH in UK except on motorways, when LHD doesn't make any difference because you are basing judgements on using the mirrors. When touring on the continent LHD does make a positive difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 We had a Rapido for five years and I can not recall it ever being a real problem. Obviously you need to be careful when exiting if parked on a layby especially with a dog. On site just use a bit of common sence. My boarder terrier Maisie has seen the picture of what she assumes is your dog. Wants to know its name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJG Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 Colin Leake - 2015-02-09 3:42 PM My boarder terrier Maisie has seen the picture of what she assumes is your dog. Wants to know its name. His name is Simon - a JRT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Had Enough Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 pepe63 - 2015-02-09 8:06 AM 99.9% of site wardens/owners/managers that we've met have been well aware of- and knew how best to orientate- an offside habitation doored van. (but the anecdotes involving the 0.1% tend to have more "mileage" in them... ;-) ) With me it's 100%. I've never yet had my habitation door location questioned nor has it determined how we must park. As, you say, these anecdotes have more mileage in them and tend to bring out those with chips on their shoulders about the clubs, who then grossly exaggerate the attitude of wardens, even calling all CC wardens 'despicable'. I think that sums up the rather biased and extremely unpleasant views that some motorhomers have, little realising that if all wardens tend to be 'despicable' that the fault may well lie with themselves and their approach to people. What's even more amusing is that those with the biggest chips always bang on about hardly ever motorhoming in the UK or that they never stay on sites. There's some odd folk about eh? :D :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Well HE, I came to your defence on your dashcam thread but now I take it all back. You are still the same old bad mannered argumentative irritant that you have always been. >:-( It is YOU who has brought discord to this thread with your arrogant attitude to other members. You have no sense of humour and no sense of when to shutup and let a post go. You have to jump in with a knee jerk reaction. For your information, I was a CC and a C&CC member and used a lot of Sites when still working (around the UK). I WAS given instructions of where and how to park a number of times. This was in a British made van and then a European van. I was chastised after turning my van round on a half empty Club Site because the raindrops from the very tall trees we were parked under were thunderous when they hit my rooflight. Just last year I was given silly and officious instructions from THS Wardens. Granted, they are not full time C&CC Officials, just over enthusiastic amateurs but it still happens, maybe not as often but it happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 American RVs used to have driver's side doors but these days most of them don't - so there is really only one way in and out of these big A Class machines. Using one of them in UK does limit you to offside exits into a traffic stream if you have to stop on the road. Wide vehicles too, so far from ideal on a motorway hard shoulder. I had to stop my Hymer on the hard shoulder once, when a road spring broke. But that wasn't too bad, we simply got out on the near side using the driver's door. You get advised NOT to wait in the vehicle these days and to get on the other side of the barrier, away from the roadway. The average time on the hard shoulder before someone shunts you is apparently only 25 minutes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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