CAMC Late Arrival

[Brian’s Dad]

I've seen a few rants about CAMC sites on here in the past but I thought we'd try one this weekend as we joined them for the insurance and given the grim forecasted weather a hot shower would be nice. We often go away on a Friday after work and consequently arrive late so wild camping works otherwise most campsites are very flexible about arrival times. I rang my chosen CAMC site and was about to book and said by the way I won't be there till 2030, 2100 at the latest. Immediate silence, 'oh that's not possible last check in is 8pm', I asked about the late arrival bay advertised, 'oh that's for unforeseen lateness due to traffic etc', so much for being honest. Oh well I'll find somewhere else a bit more relaxed! Rant over.

 

[NZCol]

Got same recently. Booked into Glenmore for a couple of nights with my daughter, heading up Fri after school. I asked about arrival times and they said last arrival is dusk. What time is that I asked, 6pm they said. In March asked I ? I would have said about 7:30 ? They got really stroppy like I was being unreasonable - all I wanted them to tell me was what time did I need to be there FFS, not hard but they like to make it hard.

 

[CaliforniaBen]

I cancelled my membership due to so many problems the main one being people block booking at start of year only to cancel meaning loads of sites appear full and you can't book. I also had a problem with a late arrival of just 10 minutes and had to spend the night pitched in waiting area.

The club wants to think it is modern but it is stuck in the 70`s , urgently needs a change around as there are so many complaints on nearly all the forums

 

[Erbster]

I stayed at a site in plymouth last Friday. A very friendly lady asked me what time I’d arrive. I told her after seven; no problem, she said, I’ll be gone but will leave a pitch number in the office window and see you in the morning.

Oh, we’ll be off just after eight in the morning, I told her. Well, I’ll take payment t over the phone and say hello and goodbye now.

Arrived. Clearly indicated pitch. Lovely (empty) facilities. Easy. Gotta love off season Cali camping. Makes up for the ars*y campsite managers with arbitrary rules.

CaliVentures

Adventures in a VW California camper van

caliventures364847572.wordpress.com

 

[Brian’s Dad]

I stayed at a site in plymouth last Friday. A very friendly lady asked me what time I’d arrive. I told her after seven; no problem, she said, I’ll be gone but will leave a pitch number in the office window and see you in the morning.

Oh, we’ll be off just after eight in the morning, I told her. Well, I’ll take payment t over the phone and say hello and goodbye now.

Arrived. Clearly indicated pitch. Lovely (empty) facilities. Easy. Gotta love off season Cali camping. Makes up for the ars*y campsite managers with arbitrary rules.

CaliVentures

Adventures in a VW California camper van

caliventures364847572.wordpress.com

That’s exactly what I’d like. Particularly at this time of year.

 

[Wongo]

Easy isnt it really? I know campsite managers aren't greatly paid but some seethe with resentment.

 

[DM]

I've been told that some site don't allow arrivals after dark because of safety issues manoeuvring in the dark. Warden on one site last October was very reluctant to let me enter the site because I would find it difficult to manoeuvre onto my pitch - which turned out to be about 10metres square. Could have got a whole fleet of Calls on there. Grrrr.

 

[Brian’s Dad]

I've been told that some site don't allow arrivals after dark because of safety issues manoeuvring in the dark. Warden on one site last October was very reluctant to let me enter the site because I would find it difficult to manoeuvre onto my pitch - which turned out to be about 10metres square. Could have got a whole fleet of Calls on there. Grrrr.

Exactly once they realise you’re in a campervan and you be setup in less than 5 minutes there shouldn’t be an issue.

 

[Bellcrew]

Got same recently. Booked into Glenmore for a couple of nights with my daughter, heading up Fri after school. I asked about arrival times and they said last arrival is dusk. What time is that I asked, 6pm they said. In March asked I ? I would have said about 7:30 ? They got really stroppy like I was being unreasonable - all I wanted them to tell me was what time did I need to be there FFS, not hard but they like to make it hard.

Give them a break, they are living in a caravan on site, on call catering for the public from dawn to dusk, their experiences of some campers would make most people a little jobsworthy.
Some, mostly commercial sites, do allow access at all hours and we recently experienced the delight of having some little darlings putting up awnings in half a gale at 2 in the morning, leaving their ancient vans engine running and the lights on to ensure they could see, who needs sleep anyway?
Personally I am all for a quite life so the club sites are ideal, as long as you can get on them of course.

 

[WelshGas]

The fact that 99% of Club members arrive on site within the opening hours says something. It is a Club and does have Rules etc:.

 

[insomnia]

Give them a break, they are living in a caravan on site, on call catering for the public from dawn to dusk, their experiences of some campers would make most people a little jobsworthy.
Some, mostly commercial sites, do allow access at all hours and we recently experienced the delight of having some little darlings putting up awnings in half a gale at 2 in the morning, leaving their ancient vans engine running and the lights on to ensure they could see, who needs sleep anyway?
Personally I am all for a quite life so the club sites are ideal, as long as you can get on them of course.

They choose to do the job, its not national service

 

[An-j]

I like club sites, but did recently stay on a private site that had a fantastic late arrivals area. Each bay had hook up and a sign out with the name of the person arriving. While I appreciate there is a level of trust involved, it does allow getaways after school/work on a Friday!

 

[GrannyJen]

I saw the other side of this a year ago at Ferry Meadows.

The warden had been on duty from 7am that morning, a lovely, really helpful couple.

The caravan club rules on LNA are quite explicit, nothing hidden, so if you don't like them then simply go somewhere else. Part of the reason is security, the CAMC simply do not allow any motor vehicle to access the site any time of night, why the barriers are down, key cards issued and why there is no access to the site after a certain time without a barrier fob.

Someone had called requesting a late-booking pitch and said they will arrive at 8pm.

They arrived at past 11pm. I know this well as I was coming back from dinner at the local beefeater just down the road. There was one hell of a noise kicking off. The wardens had been roused from their bed, had dressed and gone out to greet the very late arrival, had said they were not going to open up the reception, start a booking in process, issue a fob card and allow people to be pitching up at getting on for midnight. There is a LNA bay, complete with hook-up, overnight there and we will check in the morning.

This wasn't good enough. The volume and ferocity of abuse this couple were taking was appalling.

Fortunately myself and a couple of others were on hand to support the staff in face of this barrage of vile and unwarranted abuse.

It sometimes cuts both ways.

 

[Magic Bus]

We use CAMC sites all the time but we are retired and can travel during the day. They do some decent midweek offers at certain sites and the facilities are pretty standard across most sites. We won’t be using them in the summer though as the prices go up quite a bit.

 

[Meoncoast]

I guess there is a check in time for a ferry or an airport for a reason why not on a campsite. Most sites seem to offer a late arrival often with hook up. Guess these are for those who are delayed on route rather than planning.

 

[NZCol]

My issue was that they could only say dusk then when i asked what time that was they had no idea and blurted out about 3 different times. I've got no issue with no late arrivals, agree with that but at least say Jan-Mar last arrival 6pm or something not, well depends when dusk is !

 

[andyinluton]

We use CAMC sites quite a lot & I must admit to being frustrated about the early cut off time for arrivals especially Friday evenings in summer.
We have always just phoned them for instructions as to what to do 15mins before the cutoff time & have never been turned away yet.
At one northern site due to delays we arrived at 22.30 in the pitch black & pouring rain, hadn’t had time to pull up the handbrake in the late night arrivals area before a lovely warden sprinted out of their unit with a site map & advising which pitch to go to due to flooding etc. It does seem to make a difference if you are in just a camper looking to just park as opposed to manoeuvring a caravan etc
Although some wardens can be jobsworths there are many more that go out of their way to be helpful & in 15 years I’ve only found one to be unreasonable.

 

[GrannyJen]

My issue was that they could only say dusk then when i asked what time that was they had no idea and blurted out about 3 different times. I've got no issue with no late arrivals, agree with that but at least say Jan-Mar last arrival 6pm or something not, well depends when dusk is !

Yes, I would agree with that. Strangely I've found most staff to go out of their way with LNA's, as with the couple at Ferry Meadows who were prepared to stay on duty 2 hours after closing, but there is always going to be one sadly.

Having stopped at three CAMC sites this year I think there are a lot of temporary staff on. This was certainly the case with me last week when I had an emergency coming home from Glasgow (Migraine developing) and broke my journey by calling in at a CAMC site in the hope they had a spare pitch. The guy in reception tried to be helpful but got in a right fluster trying to work out what bookings he had coming in.

A sad experience for you, I hope you have better service next time.

 

[Brian’s Dad]

We use CAMC sites quite a lot & I must admit to being frustrated about the early cut off time for arrivals especially Friday evenings in summer.
We have always just phoned them for instructions as to what to do 15mins before the cutoff time & have never been turned away yet.
At one northern site due to delays we arrived at 22.30 in the pitch black & pouring rain, hadn’t had time to pull up the handbrake in the late night arrivals area before a lovely warden sprinted out of their unit with a site map & advising which pitch to go to due to flooding etc. It does seem to make a difference if you are in just a camper looking to just park as opposed to manoeuvring a caravan etc
Although some wardens can be jobsworths there are many more that go out of their way to be helpful & in 15 years I’ve only found one to be unreasonable.

I think I've learnt how to play the game now!

 

[andyinluton]

Just make sure to choose a site with a late arrivals area - & ring to find out if there’s an access code for the toilet block. it won’t be the quietest place to park but compared to trying to find an alternative site at that time in the evening it’s not a bad option.

 

[Mr & Mrs B]

One of my gripes isn't site managers/wardens not allowing late arrivals it's selfish campers/caravanners/motorhomers leaving too early. We've been woken at 4.00-5.00am on some sites when people want to leave early and choose to wake the whole site whilst they pack up!

 

[Bellcrew]

One of my gripes isn't site managers/wardens not allowing late arrivals it's selfish campers/caravanners/motorhomers leaving too early. We've been woken at 4.00-5.00am on some sites when people want to leave early and choose to wake the whole site whilst they pack up!

As Lex Luther so accurately observed, "People are no damn good" well some are.

 

[No_heroes]

I like the rules and regiment of the CAMC - it means the stays are predictable and safe. Good for young families etc. We are also members of the CCC which we know is more relaxed which I think will be better as the kids get older.