Hello All. We went to a beer festival last weekend and checked with the pub there would be enough room to park the motorhome near by. (The field was too wet) We parked behind other cars on a public grass verge. In the morning a man on his push bike banged on the side of the motorhome telling us "People dont like seeing the motorhome parking here" and "Dont you know theres a Beer Festival?" We politely told him we did check with the pub and we had been to the Beer Fest. Then he wanted to know when we were going to move! He was rather rude. Its a new vehicle!
Could anyone please tell me if we were in the wrong? We werent blocking anything or anyone? I felt harassed :-(
I would have told him to feck orf, and stop banging on my camper or I would bang his head against it..... but.... thats just me.
At the end of the day it is nothing to do with him, if you were doing anything wrong, then thats between you and either the landowner, or the police. If you were in the wrong the you have to accept the consequences of your actions. But thats not for him to enforce.
------------- Never look down at anybody....
.....unless to offer a hand, to help them up
Maybe had to step round your camper on his way to the beer festival the night before...Cost him a minute or so's drinking time...
Or if he stays local...Fed up with the annual influx parking in his street for the w/end
Either way..I would have lost my temper at him for banging on the side of the camper in the way you described alone...Never mind his hectoring tone of voice...
Probably a self appointed guardian for the area...and chairman of the neighborhood watch (with a committee of one)Brightened his sad little life...and gave him a sense of self importance talking to you cos no one locally has spoken to him socially for years....
Excuse the generalizations...But that's the vibe I get from your account of the conversation....
Jelboy
------------- Campers of the storm,Into this world are born
If you park on a grass verge beside a public rd I think you will find a copper or parking warden can ticket you & you have no defence. Also local councils can have bye laws preventing parking on grass verges & it can be something that locals can find extremely annoying if it happens a lot as it chews up grass & looks unsightly, hence your encounter with 'Mr Angry'.
For example at a car boot sale in the countryside nr me the charge is 50p to park in field. Plenty were parking on the verge beside main rd & walking into boot sale to avoid charge. Cops started ticketing cars to 'discourage' this as it was a hazard.
Fact is cops can ticket any vehicle parked on a public rd if they decide its a hazard. To 'wild camp' with a motorhome in the UK is ok if you can get away with it, that all there is to it really.
Well, he is being rather selective. How dare he discriminate against your motorhome. hehehhehe.
Poor you being rudely awoken by the local busybody.
heath63
------------- New Year: Hesketh Bank
Feb/March: Red Squirrel
March: lakes
June: Morecambe
Aug: Lake District(not camping camping)
October: Red Squirrel
Quote: Originally posted by Tentz on 14/5/2013
For example at a car boot sale in the countryside nr me the charge is 50p to park in field. Plenty were parking on the verge beside main rd & walking into boot sale to avoid charge. Cops started ticketing cars to 'discourage' this as it was a hazard.
Fact is cops can ticket any vehicle parked on a public rd if they decide its a hazard. To 'wild camp' with a motorhome in the UK is ok if you can get away with it, that all there is to it really.
seen the same on the A498 near snowdon few weeks back lots of places to park up but people where double parking on either side of the road (the roads bad enough without double parking)
seen a few using the pay and display tickets but most didnt, on the way back i think we passed about 40 to 60 cars with tickets on them
someones monthly quoter in one day
------------- if there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water
If you want to wild camp regularly in the UK you will eventualy get some sort of aggro. I used to park overnight in my old VW camper yrs ago in all sorts of places & I've had beer cans bouncing off the roof, drunks rocking the van & favourite one, motorists stopping beside you & hooting their horns. Just goes with the territory, I'm afraid. Non campers just view anybody wild camping in campers/caravans as pikeys.
Just a thought, if the field was too wet, how dry was the verge?
He shouldn't have had a go at you in that manner, but equally Tentz' post at 8.44am today is valid. I'm very worried by some of your responses - the OP was polite, despite the real provocation. It is just possible that there had been previous issues with motorhomes; these really can build up over time and the guy went OTT. Nor I have to say are some motorhome owners as polite as the OP. One house I lived in shared an access with a field entrance next door. Latter was muddy so they would park up either across the entrances or block our gates. Ask them to shift at 6.00am when my OH went to work and the attitude was worse than f*** o**. Amazing what our neighbours (farmers) with broken shotguns could accomplish! OK, not the same as on a verge but consideration needs to be given.
Tentz, I don't regard true wild campers/campervanners and caravanners as pikeys.
------------- " When I die I don`t want my life to flash before me in an instant, I want it to be a 3 hour epic !"
Quote: Originally posted by toothlesscrone on 14/5/2013
I've been trying to look at law and motorhome parking. Is there any easy to read links anywhere?
Thanks.
There is no specific law, its just about what you can get away with. Many seaside/touristic areas have byelaws restricting sleeping in vehicles overnight on streets & in carparks, Newquay even has signs up forbidding cooking in vehicles daytimes. The UK ain't France where you can park up almost anywhere, you have to be a bit inventive, for example pub landlords will sometimes let you stop in their car park for the price of a meal & a few beers. Supermkt car parks used to be ok, now many have 3hr restrictions.
Another thing to be aware of if you park on public rd which includes verges & laybys is if you are over the limit you could in theory be done for 'drunk in charge of motor vehicle' & lose your licence, you need to know things that are possible even if they are improbable. You have no 'right' to park overnight anywhere, you only park on public/private land/road at the discretion/goodwill/permission of somebody else, whoever they might be.
Your best bet if you want to wild camp in a specific area is to look at the local council website to check byelaws or just use your judgement at the time which is what most motorhomers do.
Quote ". Amazing what our neighbours (farmers) with broken shotguns could accomplish! " Are you serious? That is a short cut to jail if I ever there was one.
------------- Silence is golden
Duct tape is silver