Parking tickets beware

[Andy Phillips]

I just wanted to make people aware if you park in Bournemouth or anywhere where the parking sign has a symbol of a car next to the P and you are in a vehicle which has a bed of any sort you will get a ticket ..

We have been advised by the council that a cali beach is a motorhome even though it fits into the size restrictions of a car.

Unfortunately may of the roads in Bournemouth and maybe other towns and city's are putting up these signs with just a P and a picture of a car which is parking for cars only....

 

[dspuk]

Handy to know. I guess it’s obvious if you think about it but I wouldn’t have realised to be honest and parked there like I do in standard car parks.

I guess challenge for these coastal towns is faux off gridders sleeping in carparks and thinking they are in the wild.

 

[Barbara]

My V5 for the T5 says it is a diesel car, I would therefore assume it is a car. Unfortunately some are listed differently therefore making it difficult to define Californias. Some carparks are just restricted by height barriers which are more easy to understand, some just say no overnight parking. Thanks for the information as I would have parked.

 

[andyinluton]

I just wanted to make people aware if you park in Bournemouth or anywhere where the parking sign has a symbol of a car next to the P and you are in a vehicle which has a bed of any sort you will get a ticket ..

Looks like Bournemouth are a bit sneaky with their RTOs & have decided to amend the RTAs definition of a motorcar to include the words" excludes any vehicle designed or adapted for sleeping purposes" after the RTAs definition as the photo below. I think that is completely underhand to change the definition of what constitutes a motor car unless the new definition is clearly displayed on any parking restriction.

I would quite happily go to court and argue that my van in the state that it is parked is not adapted for sleeping purposes.
I would admit that it has the ability to be adapted by putting up the roof or lowering the back seat.
There is a subtle difference, but if the cali fails under that rule then so should every volvo estate, LR Discovery, E Class estate etc as by folding down the back seats you have adapted the car for sleeping.

What is worse is that some of their RTOs specifically say no camper vans ( their definition of a camper van is a Motor Caravan or Motorhome") others say cars only. You may also miss the tiny wording that restricts parking in a lot of their open air carparks to vehicles under 4.8m in length.

Full set of TROs attached for anyone else as bored as me to look at.

 

[leondavies911]

Thanks Andy this is good info, we’re in bournemouth and pick up our Cali at the end of the month. Noticed a few of these signs around the coast and have just been looking into if we can actually park there…turns out not!

 

[Kayleigh]

Well a T6 Beach or T6.1 Beach Tour don’t have cooking facilities so you would think they would be OK. But both would of course fall foul of the 4.8m rule. But so would many estate cars and SUVs.

So I wonder how many 4.9m SUVs actually receive tickets. My cynical side says NONE!

 

[andyinluton]

Well a T6 Beach or T6.1 Beach Tour don’t have cooking facilities so you would think they would be OK. But both would of course fall foul of the 4.8m rule. But so would many estate cars and SUVs.

So I wonder how many 4.9m SUVs actually receive tickets. My cynical side says NONE!

Nothing to do with cooking facilities! Under Bournemouth’s rules it’s whether you can sleep in the vehicle.

Would like to know if they also ticket builders vans, car derived vans or duel purpose vehicles ( Land Rover defenders etc) none of which are cars under the regulations Bournemouth refer to.

 

[Lambeth Cali]

I just wanted to make people aware if you park in Bournemouth or anywhere where the parking sign has a symbol of a car next to the P and you are in a vehicle which has a bed of any sort you will get a ticket ..

We have been advised by the council that a cali beach is a motorhome even though it fits into the size restrictions of a car.

Unfortunately may of the roads in Bournemouth and maybe other towns and city's are putting up these signs with just a P and a picture of a car which is parking for cars only....

The legalities of parking fines hinge on perfect signage. A blue P with a picture of a car? Is that really legal signage? No ‘No camper vans’ or a campervan image with a line through it? That would sound clear and legally enforceable. Sounds dubious.

 

[Wannabecamperman]

Well a T6 Beach or T6.1 Beach Tour don’t have cooking facilities so you would think they would be OK. But both would of course fall foul of the 4.8m rule. But so would many estate cars and SUVs.

So I wonder how many 4.9m SUVs actually receive tickets. My cynical side says NONE!

Indeed. Or 5m Range Rovers, etc...

 

[Kayleigh]

The legalities of parking fines hinge on perfect signage. A blue P with a picture of a car? Is that really legal signage? No ‘No camper vans’ or a campervan image with a line through it? That would sound clear and legally enforceable. Sounds dubious.

There was a thread on Dorset parking restrictions last year with pictures of a campervan with a line through it. Here it is for further reading:

West Bay, Dorset - Campervan Parking

Just a quick word of warning (apologies if this is well known..), it seems the welcome for motorhomes in the West Bay car parks is now over. Virtually all of the car parks there are now excluding any vans over 4.8 metres length and all motorhomes - the definition of a motorhome being anything...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[Kayleigh]

Indeed. Or 5m Range Rovers, etc...

Technically, if they are rigorously enforcing the requirement to fit within the parking bay a lot of cars would be caught out, including shorter cars with bike racks. The standard bay size is 4.8 x 2.4m.

 

[johnyboy]

Same in Scotland - got a ticket in Skye, assumed I was fine if we got under the barrier

 

[Ozzy Pete]

So for the people who have forked out 55k + for a new beach because it gives up to 6 seats for a larger family have to then fork out many more thousands for a vehicle that looks like a “Car” . If it’s a Caravel you are ok? Pretty obviously a nice little earner for the council.
Same sort of Situation is happening here in Wales where they are installing many more Speed Cameras in anticipation of all the speeders when the new 20 mph limit comes in in September. Another nice little earner for the Welsh Government.

 

[jts46]

Local car parks where i live have a weight restriction of 1,525kg so legally can’t park Cali.
Same applies in Arnold were my son lives

 

[Azteccamper]

Same in Scotland - got a ticket in Skye, assumed I was fine if we got under the barrier

Tried parking in The Old Man of Storr car park and was told no as we were a motorhome (plenty of spaces). We had to park on the road alongside - guess what - no room, full of cars!

 

[johnyboy]

That's where we got the ticket!

 

[Kayleigh]

That's where we got the ticket!

Did you pay for your parking though, regardless of whether you were on the road or in the car park?

 

[SamSara]

I need to look into this further with regards to taking my son to Bournemouth using a blue badge