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this has probably been done to death but hey ho !

Is it me or are these campsites having a laugh. we are looking towards North Devon for a week with the tent. The prices range from £30 to £40 a night for 3 of us and pooch with electric. mrs says i'm a bit tight but i only want to borrow the pitch for a few days not buy it!  The site we used last year has gone up a tenner a night for no extra facilities....

Or is it me ??????

Lurchy i so agree with you. Thats is exactly what we found just a few weeks ago, when we were looking to camp in that area too. I said exactly the same thing, we only wanted to borrow the grass not dig it up and take it with us.So its not just you there has been other posts recently on  this topic too, think it was on the sites forum if you want to have a look.

Just found it this is the link for it.

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=4&TopicID=220334&PagePosition=11

Join the CCC and use one of their sites for about half that price.

This is already posted on the other thread mentioned here but I will straight copy this:

Refuse disposal - This is on top of any taxes a site pays our 1100 ltr bin if emptied only once costs us £31.75p thats one bin one empty, this doesn't include for recycling which costs us 98p per bag of recycling, above inflation and to us unjustified increase, but we have to pay it otherwise we don't get our bins emptied = unhappy customers.

Electricity Standing Charges - normally per day for a site, even when they are closed! Above inflation, but we have to pay it otherwise we can't operate!

Insurances - goes up for everyone, above inflation this year must have been lots of claims on public liability nationally....... has to be paid to cover our bottoms!

Fuel Prices - if the site has grass that has to be cut which normally means filling a mower with petrol or diesel - everyone know this is well above the rate of inflation, we are ALL having to pay it!

Business Rates - this is just a tax really, sites, as with any other business get nowt for it, for our rates this year that means a 504% increase (over 1 Yr Not 5 Yrs) - make me cry as if it continues you are looking at one park that will not be operating this time next year!

Bottled Gas/oil increases well above the rate of inflation over the last 10 years let alone 1 yr.

Unforeseen maintenance charges - I know it sounds daft maybe, but things like mowers, strimers, boilers, hedge cutters, pipes, taps, toilet seats, shower heads, hookup boxes, site vehicles etc breakdown, which admittidly tends to be at  the most inconvienient of times and normally on a part that is not easily replaced.

It may be and if I'm right that Devon is one of the areas that has been 'hit' with huge business rate increases - as a business you get nothing for it it's essentially another governement tax........................  could be the reason the site has had to increase by a tenner from this time last year as it's only been implemented on all sites this year.

Hope this helps a little to see the true hidden costs of running a site.