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Travelled up today to Ipswich. Kept coming across flocks of these mobile road blocks. What will it be like next week coming up to the Bank Holiday?
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The M3 is always at its slowest in August due to the caravan menace. Business drivers should be allowed to charge the Caravan Club for the time they lose due to these selfish, lumbering behemoths inevitably owned at vast expense by people too mean to pay a hotel bill or the rent of a holiday cottage. They make as much economic sense as the UK economy.
HJ
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I love caravaning always have .In Germany we pay road tax and insurance for our caravans ,something the UK should consider.I also tow with a vehicle that will easily exceed the permited limit even up a 1in4.But I do understand peoples frustration some of the vans I saw on my holiday from the UK in the south of France made me wonder how they got to Dover .One other point in the rest of europe there are compulsory power to weight ratio regulations and these are stamped on your log book.I disagree with HJ on one point hotels in the UK suck in general ,and cost treble of anywhere in the world.Having lived in hotels in the UK for ten years I found very few that were good no matter what price you paid.
regardsAndy Bairsto
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Worst thing about caravans is the waste of money. People buy them brand new and then 50 weeks out of the year they clutter up the front garden. The holiday areas depend on the tourist money and caravaners spend comparatively little. As caravanners are on holiday they can choose when to travel. The business person has no choice when he travels. I would not mind caravans if they would travel outside peak traffic hours say after dark!
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We also have them all over Norfolk infesting our clifftops and cluttering up our roads. They contribute very little to the local economy as they are so mean they bring all their own food are rarely leave the caravan once on site. The biggest pain in the neck are the Caravan Club when they all travel more or less together and park all in a field at the same time, the certainly do not leave their little domain and spend most of the weekend playing 'silly' games and dressing up in fancy dress, I know, I knew a member once and he used to tell me what they had done and bored us by showing us photos of the weekend. Most caravanners travel on tyres that have been standing all winter and then they wonder why they get a 'flat' usually on a bend in a narrow road. They should be taxed about £200 a year for the inconvenience they cause other road users including commercial traffic.
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Darcy,
Bet you're glad you kept to the jetski, these caravanning types......really.
David
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David
Disgraceful I know, but legal.
For you others, Jetski = Caravan (origins obscure)
FYI I copy a post I made in June.
"Caravans should be taxed and tested, as a matter of credibility and safety, but I suspect the cost of administering the system would kill it off. You couldn't take your caravan to an average car MOT testers for a look underneath because the ramp wouldn't support the jockey wheel. I own a caravan (surprise) and would say it's kept in a condition that would stand any inspection. Yes the tyres were changed when they were 5 years old. How difficult was it throwing away a completely unused spare tyre, for a Yorkshireman. :-)
In fact, I am embarrassed to be included in the caravan owner syndrome (like Volvo drivers) when I see some of the wrecks being towed around the country with bits hanging off them. In fact, during our unhappy association with a Volvo 760 estate, I have been both a Volvo driver and a caravan owner. Anyone want a secondhand flat cap ...."
The tone of this thread is that all caravanners are mean, inconsiderate and drive too slowly. Ah, speed again! Modern outfits are well capable of being driven at national speed limits, but we're regulated by the same archaic thinking that p*sses off all those who complain about the 70 mph limit. When our family do land at our destination, our main goal is to get out & about sightseeing, shopping, eating at local pubs and cafes and otherwise supporting the local economy. I don't think I'm mean and inconsiderate, but who does?
I left the Caravan Club when I read in the technical tips page of the club magazine that a chap had bought a new caravan, found that some local regulation or other prevented him from taking it to Italy (maybe, I forget) and wanted to sue the manufacturers! I didn't want to part of a club that gave him space to air views that I found mean-minded, ill-informed and belligerent.
For the record, the family do not play silly games, other than flying kites, and chucking frisbees, and I do pull in on single carriageway roads to let traffic past.
In fact, if I believe my own PR, I must be not only the perfect motorist, but the perfect caravanner ;-)
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It's easy to bash caravan owners, but you won't stop us - but that won't stop this thread from growing, will it?
For goodness sake, live and let live! How I spend MY money on MY holidays etc. is MY business.
There are plenty of life styles/vehicle choices and all sorts of other things that annoy, but if it's legal then that's the end of it.
Like all things motoring, better training is the real answer (for caravan towers, I mean).
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Yes, nobody would mind so much caravans blocking up roads and causing congestion if they they paid their way in a form of extra tax as they are in some countries abroad and their drivers were a bit more considerate to other road users. They cause untold congestion as they usually move in twos or threes with their mates and pay no tax -- unfair.
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roads are for all users trying to get from a to b. Depending on who you are with at the time, you hear different complaints about other users. Car only roads would be great (no trucks, vans, bikes, caravans) as would car free roads, just trucks or caravans or bikes, etc, but I guess until we can afford to have segregated roads we will just have to chill out, expect delays on certain roads in certain seasons at certain times of day, plan our journeys and live and let live.
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These horrible caravans are also an eyesore on sites in beauty spots. As Norfolkman has said they are usually parked on clifftops and look like a shantytown. There is only one good place for a caravan and that is the scrapyard.
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HJ
I would beg to argue that Andy Bairstow has a valid point in that hold-ups caused by caravans are usually due to too low a the power to weight ratio.
Personally, with two dogs it is almost impossible to find a holiday cottage which will take them and out of the question in hotels, so a caravan is the logical alternative.
However, I try to keep the speed as high as is safe, subject to the 60 mph limit, and actively avoid obstructing other traffic.
Regards
Brian
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Brian,
You're right about the holiday cottages, all the good ones are no dogs. Even those that do allow them are often limited to one well behaved animal.
The good lady wants us to find a place that the dog can come to next year, failing that she mentioned the possibility of a caravan!!!
So you cottage owners in Norfolk, think about the dog owners or we'll have to tug another white blob to the coast.
Perhaps we could put windows in the horse trailer, middling credibility?
David
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Brian,
Not a caravanner but have towed sailing dinghies hundreds of miles, where performance was not really an issue, well behind a 205GTI it wasn't.
I think your last comment about actively avoiding obstructing traffic sums it up, too many have the attitude I will do what I want and sod you.
Which nicely gets us back to the sod you profiling we started ages and ages ago.
Surely its just good manners if circumstances are possible to pull over for a few minutes to let the tail through? Or am I missing something, like the need to save 10 seconds on every journey?
regards,
Stuart
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At least you admit to causing lots of extra pollution just to tow a white slug from 1 car park to another. I cannot remember ever seeing a caravan pull over to let vehicles pass by! I have seen a convoy of them on the A12 blocking two out of the three lanes as they overtook each other at 1 mph differential.
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David
We did manage to find a cottage (actually a thatched barn conversion) outside Bognor Regis which took slept up to 8 (took the inlaws) + 2 dogs and was great. I can put the agency name up (purely in the cause of avoiding road congestion so you can leave the 'van at home, of course) when I get home if anyone is interested.
However it was not cheap !
Regards
Brian
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Looking through this thread, I now add the following:
Caravan club advises towers to pull over and let traffic pass. CC also advises against travelling in convoy.
CC advises maximum load of caravan to be no more than 85% of the gross weight of the tow vehicle. If you won a good turbo diesel then towing at a respectable speed is not a problem.
Regarding taxes: when I tow I get 60% of the mpg I get solo. Therefore, I pay extra tax on a per mile basis through fuel duties. Nothing comes free!
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As I have suggested before they should only be allowed out at dark.
When I establish my "popular dictatorship" all non caravan towing cars will be fitted with a 20mm cannon to dispense instant justice to caravan perpertrators.
lock and load
as ever
Mark
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> As I have suggested before they should only be allowed out at
> dark.
didn't that used to tbe the system in parts of Australia, in some cities ? or is that merely legend ?
M.
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I tow a trailer tent - not a huge air brake when traveling, no problem keeping up and can over take lorries on steep bits of A303 no problem. When we arrive we never cook just eat out (ie spend lots of money locally) and with a tent there's nothing hard for someone 6'4" to bang his head on. Cost a couple hundred quid secnod hand so not some vast expense and even gets used for more than 2 weeks in a year.
Jon - happy camper and regular A12 user ;-)
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