Inconsiderate Caravaners

James_N

Limey wrote: »

I've never seen the point in caravans, surely if you add up the cost of buying the damn thing, the extra fuel required to tow it to your destination and the fees the camp site charge you'd be able to afford a nice comfy little B&B?

Well put. My sentiments entirely. We live in a tourist area and caravans are a pest we can do without.
Camping is another thing entirely though. Campers may be people who cannot afford more, or younger people who may well come back and spend money in in proper hotels and boost the local economy.
Caravaners, on the other hand, are people who choose to spend their money (lots of it) on huge boxes on wheels, that block up the roads, use large amounts of fuel, and block the view. When they arrive they spend minimally on local services, having stocked up on tinned food from their usual supermarket.
We can do without them.

antrobus

Limey wrote: »

I've never seen the point in caravans, surely if you add up the cost of buying the damn thing, the extra fuel required to tow it to your destination and the fees the camp site charge you'd be able to afford a nice comfy little B&B?

It's psychological - some people just don't like staying in 'strange' places; and prefer to holiday in their own little homes where everything is just so, even if they have to tow it all the way there and back again.

The consequences of so doing might be a bit annoying to the rest of us from time to time, but I don't think it's really worth getting that worked up about.

verityboo

As someone who owns and regularly tows a caravan it is interesting to hear others comments. The problem I experience its that even though I am towing, I still end up following lorries and others going at 40 to 50 and holding me up. The worst are drivers who stick to 40 mph in the countryside (and then speed up in town). People seem to think that caravans should pull over but why not Lorries and other slow traffic which holds caravans up

The big problem nowadays is that there seem to be so many less opportunities to overtake. On many roads where I live, many long safe stretches of road have double continuous white lines down them and central islands which forces people to try and overtake on stretches with a far more restricted view ahead. Having to wait does seem to make people become frustrated and aggressive

On a trip to North Devon last summer (A361 I think) on which they have thoughtfully added a second overtaking lane on several uphill sections to allow slow traffic to overtake. Trouble was there was a mobile police camera van at the top of most of them!

poppasmurf_bewdley

James_N wrote: »

Well put. My sentiments entirely. We live in a tourist area and caravans are a pest we can do without.
Camping is another thing entirely though. Campers may be people who cannot afford more, or younger people who may well come back and spend money in in proper hotels and boost the local economy.
Caravaners, on the other hand, are people who choose to spend their money (lots of it) on huge boxes on wheels, that block up the roads, use large amounts of fuel, and block the view. When they arrive they spend minimally on local services, having stocked up on tinned food from their usual supermarket.
We can do without them.

I'm sorry that you have such a blinkered view of caravanners.

I've recently returned from 10 days in the village of Broadway, near Evesham in Worcestershire. There were 12 of us in our group and in that village in 10 days we spent:

1. Almost £1k in site fees.
2. 5 evening meals at a local pub or restaurant at an average of £15 per person per night, plus drinks.
3. 2 visits to the market in Morton-in-Marsh - spend probably £200+.
4. Several lunches for each of us in Evesham plus what was spent in local shops and supermarket during the 10 days.

Add to this the local employment we helped to pay for, and between us we probably brought about £3k to Broadway in 10 days.

How much economically do YOU provide to your local community compared to those you call pests (ie caravanners)? And ask those who provide services to the caravanners who they would prefer to have in the area - you or the caravanners!

Strider590

^^ Meh, my only gripe with caravans would be having one parked outside my front door for the 51 weeks a year when it's not in use, something quite a lot of people in the UK have to suffer.... But I fortunately do not

I can't honestly say they cause me any issue on the roads, we all know what days to expect them (Friday evening, Saturday morning, Sunday Evening and any bank holiday Monday), so why not avoid the roads at these times?

Maybe if I were in Wales it'd be more of an issue.

iolanthe07

In California you have to pull in (when possible) if you have five or more vehicles stacked up behind you. This makes good sense, and should be adopted here.

James_N

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

I'm sorry that you have such a blinkered view of caravanners.
How much economically do YOU provide to your local community compared to those you call pests (ie caravanners)? And ask those who provide services to the caravanners who they would prefer to have in the area - you or the caravanners!

I provide a huge amount to my local area's economy in several distinct areas.
I am glad that YOU were not one of the two the illegal caravan campers on the top of our local beauty spot last week, or the ones in the layby - all avoiding paying space fees at the local [STRIKE]eyesores[/STRIKE] caravan parks.

verityboo

James_N wrote: »

I provide a huge amount to my local area's economy in several distinct areas.
I am glad that YOU were not one of the two the illegal caravan campers on the top of our local beauty spot last week, or the ones in the layby - all avoiding paying space fees at the local [STRIKE]eyesores[/STRIKE] caravan parks.

I don't think you'll find many caravan club members being confused with Travellers who think they can park up where ever they want:rotfl:

I have not stayed on a single caravan club site where the caravans can easily be seen from a road. I agree that there are too many Holiday camps with row upon row of static caravans, particularly along our coastline, where no attempt is main to screen them - but again it is people who tow a small caravan who are being blamed for something that is nothing to do with them

rdwarr

The comments on this page alone show that there are far more inconsiderate (to the point of intentionally endangering life) people on the road than caravanners.

Lum

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Because they're not following at a distance of less than one car.

Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't.

If they're split up into smaller queues with the odd considerate person actually leaving a gap then by all means go for it, but eventually you will encounter a situation where the queue of cars is such that it's impossible to safely to overtake.

Strider may seem a little dramatic with his talk of attempted murder, but he is actually right on this one. I've seen someone overtake me and then decide rather than to pull in they wanted to overtake the car in front too, only for the car in front to speed up and vary their speed so as to remain alongside the other car, preventing it pulling in and keeping them out for a hell of a lot longer than was necessary.

I maintained my original speed until seeing an oncoming truck up in the distance, at which point I slowed right down to about 20 ish, the overtaking car braked hard, shortly followed by the car in front of me, but the overtaking car had the more effective brakes and was able to slot back in.

And this is why I'll only overtake using the stealth method these days, unless it's obviously a vehicle that's going to be unable to pull that kind of crap... such as someone towing a caravan!