Parking - am I a van or a camper van

[Lorri]

Visiting friends around Lincolnshire and looking at places to visit whilst there. On looking at the parking facilities at various places Lincolnshire doesn’t seem to like campervans. We have looked up details of various parking facilities and they all seem to say NO CAMPERVANS.
Skegness for one seems to be completely out of the equation for a visit.

 

[Amarillo]

Visiting friends around Lincolnshire and looking at places to visit whilst there. On looking at the parking facilities at various places Lincolnshire doesn’t seem to like campervans. We have looked up details of various parking facilities and they all seem to say NO CAMPERVANS.
Skegness for one seems to be completely out of the equation for a visit.

I think it depends on the traffic regulation order. I’d assume they use the body type on the V5 to define a campervan, in which case Californias would be excluded where is says no campervans.

 

[Jason wallace]

Looking here

http://parking.e-lindsey.gov.uk/maps/skegness.html

They don't seem to explicitly say 'No Campervans', but all main car parks have height restriction to stop larger vans, motorhomes etc.

 

[Turfschipper]

Why is it they dont want campervans?

 

[vmaxkiddy]

Visiting friends around Lincolnshire and looking at places to visit whilst there. On looking at the parking facilities at various places Lincolnshire doesn’t seem to like campervans. We have looked up details of various parking facilities and they all seem to say NO CAMPERVANS.
Skegness for one seems to be completely out of the equation for a visit.

I park on street, and in the main car parks in Skegness, never had a problem in 4 years. Most off road council car parks have height barriers of 2.05 M, Motor homes, campers are allowed if they fit, but just like most UK car parks, no overnight stays or cooking. At the moment the pier car park has no height barrier. The cricket cub near the station does all day parking for £4.00. To be honest I don't recall seeing any signs that say "no camper vans". If you do come to Skegg please visit the lifeboat station and spend lots of money in the shop , my Cali may be parked out front.
For a more tranquil visit than Skegg, with easy parking and a good cafe, try Gibraltar Point nature reserve.

 

[Meoncoast]

It is getting quite interesting out there. In the past, I have seen a lot of no Motorhome signs but more signs say no campervans as well are popping up A couple of weeks ago we went to Lulworth Cove and it was £4 to park but £15 for campervans, motorhomes and mini busses. I spoke to an "enforcer" and said, "Are you expecting me to pay £15 for that ( pointing at my Cali) & if so we would not stay. He said our campervan was fine for standard payment of £4 (which was for only 2 hours). Think it is worth asking. The debate I had was we took up no more space than a large SUV. I will vote by not be visiting places which exclude campervans. In my view I do not think we can claim we are not a campervan,whatever the V5 document states

 

[Joker 1299]

Why is it they dont want campervans?

It’s not that they don’t want campervans, it’s that they don’t want people camping in their vans on the street or in public car parks. Why would they?

 

[jts46]

It is getting quite interesting out there. In the past, I have seen a lot of no Motorhome signs but more signs say no campervans as well are popping up A couple of weeks ago we went to Lulworth Cove and it was £4 to park but £15 for campervans, motorhomes and mini busses. I spoke to an "enforcer" and said, "Are you expecting me to pay £15 for that ( pointing at my Cali) & if so we would not stay. He said our campervan was fine for standard payment of £4 (which was for only 2 hours)

 

[Amarillo]

Good thread here:
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/vw-california-parking-in-swanage-dorset-grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.9452/

 

[MattBW]

A lot of these signs aren't often legally backed up if its council land because there is no such thing as a campervan on V5 only a motor caravan. However I wouldnt fancy testing that personally.

Sadly on your V5 it will say motorcaravan so any ticket person will probably see your van as a campervan.

 

[Meoncoast]

Why is it they dont want campervans?

seen as "freeloader" or a cash cow ?

 

[Velma's Dad]

seen as "freeloader" or a cash cow ?

I am one of those and Mrs VD is the other.

 

[Tomcali]

Please find below a DVLA response to my recent query:-

"The body type is provided to us by the dealer at the point a vehicle is first registered to us. It does not define how a vehicle is used, it exists on the record purely as a reference as to how the vehicle looks.

I trust this is of assistance to you."

&

A VW California is defined in legislation as a 'Motor Car' and therefore this point is not open to discussion, opinion or interpretation.

NB: VW CS confirm that 'mass in service' on the V5C at section 4. is used to record the unladen weight of the vehicle at the point of registration with DVLA.

The road traffic act 1988 states:-

• “motor car” means a mechanically propelled vehicle, not being a motor cycle or an invalid carriage, which is constructed itself to carry a load or passengers and the weight of which unladen—

(a)if it is constructed solely for the carriage of passengers and their effects, is adapted to carry not more than seven passengers exclusive of the driver and is fitted with tyres of such type as may be specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State, does not exceed 3050 kilograms,
(b)if it is constructed or adapted for use for the conveyance of goods or burden of any description, does not exceed 3050 kilograms, or 3500 kilograms if the vehicle carries a container or containers for holding for the purposes of its propulsion any fuel which is wholly gaseous at 17.5 degrees Celsius under a pressure of 1.013 bar or plant and materials for producing such fuel,
(c)does not exceed 2540 kilograms in a case not falling within sub-paragraph (a) or (b) above,

 

[Velma's Dad]

This type of 'What is a California? Car? Campervan? Motorhome?' question comes up regularly on this forum depending on how the owner wishes to see it described: for purposes of paying taxes, accessing parking or other services, paying for Eurotunnel, complying with traffic laws, booing campsites, paying for environmental stickers, overcoming restrictive covenants on land tenure, etc etc. The list is endless.

Regurgitating a V5 description is definitive in only a few of those cases.

It's what ever you want it to be... but get used to the idea that others may describe it differently from you and it depends how much time you want to spend arguing about it.

 

[Wongo]

Why would any ‘tourist’ destination discourage visitors? Its a peculiar British form of nonsense.

 

[MattBW]

British NIMBYism at its best.

 

[willwander]

...and then every now and then you see this

 

[Velma's Dad]

Why would any ‘tourist’ destination discourage visitors? Its a peculiar British form of nonsense.

I don’t quite agree. Amsterdam just announced a policy of aiming to reduce tourism numbers. We’ll see a lot more of that, as mass tourism really becomes a thing (ain’t seen nothing yet).

Times when tourists were seen as an automatic good are coming to an end. And that includes tourists driving vans.

 

[Sandyvan]

Why is it they dont want campervans?

Because the minority have spoiled it for the majority by wild camping for long periods and leaving the place a mess. It wont be long before Scotland do the same IMHO.

 

[TripleBee]

I use all parking spaces where I can park, if needed.
On the looks, it is just a van.
If I want, I can park on camper parkings too, because I can show that it is a camper.

I drive both a campervan and just a van, in terms of what fits me best at that time.

 

[Jason wallace]

Or they want of discourage a certain classification of mobile/caravan user. A quick google seems to indicate it was a bit of a problem there, including an Easter BH weekend where it was reported 80+ caravans and 100+ other vehicles took over one of the main car parks.

The information on their website seems to indicate that as long as you can get under the barrier your camper van is welcome, but there's no stopping over. There is also a separate Motorhome parking area provided.

Why would any ‘tourist’ destination discourage visitors? Its a peculiar British form of nonsense.

Because the minority have spoiled it for the majority by wild camping for long periods and leaving the place a mess. It wont be long before Scotland do the same IMHO.

 

[Amarillo]

Beachlands West Beach car park on Hayling Island, which for many years had a small section set aside for motorhomes and campervans. The council has decided to ban overnight parking for vehicles adapted for sleeping citing a fire risk assessment as their only grounds for the ban.
https://www.ukmotorhomes.net/uk-sto...land-motorhome-overnight-parking-to-be-banned

The ban was introduced by an "Experimental Traffic Regulation Order".

Extract:

=====

Since 2011 motorhomes, (the term ‘motorhomes’ is used for private vehicles with sleeping accommodation for the motor taxation class ‘motor caravan’) have been able to park and stay overnight in West Beach car park (although the car park is not a licensed campsite). Havant Borough Council noted that as the use of the car park by motorhomes has increased motorhomes were parking too closely together which is considered to have serious health and safety implications in the event of a fire or explosion to the motorhome. Therefore, Havant Borough Council commissioned a Fire Risk Assessment [FRA] by Fire Decisions Limited. The FRA states that to reduce the risk of fire spreading between motorhomes the authority can control this by providing adequate spacing between vehicles, the recommended spacing is a minimum of 4 meters however it is recommended that 6 meters would reduce the risk significantly. To do this the authority would need to tarmac (binder and surface course) West Beach car park, the bays would have to be marked out with box junctions to ensure that the distance was adhered to. The estimated cost would be in the region of £650,000.

=====

 

[Whistler]

The FRA states that to reduce the risk of fire spreading between motorhomes the authority can control this by providing adequate spacing between vehicles, the recommended spacing is a minimum of 4 meters however it is recommended that 6 meters would reduce the risk significantly.

=====

This seems quite reasonable to me. Try bailing out of the sliding door when it opens onto a fireball that used to be a motorhome and the gap is only a couple of feet

 

[Digger]

Remember the DVLA is only a tax collector agency. It merely records vehicles for registration to set and collect taxes.

 

[ArunAlec]

This seems quite reasonable to me. Try bailing out of the sliding door when it opens onto a fireball that used to be a motorhome and the gap is only a couple of feet

This motor home took out a filling station.....

https://images-o.jpimedia.uk/imagefetch/w_700,f_auto,ar_3:2,q_auto:low,c_fill/if_h_lte_200,c_mfit,h_201/https://www.chichester.co.uk/webimage/1.8917704.1557225918!/image/image.jpg