Camping CFs - AIBU?

[CampingCFs]

I live in a seaside town in the south west of England. We have a long coast road, lined with houses and hotels on one side, mostly with no parking restrictions.

In the last few years campervans and motorhomes have set up camp, sometimes for a night or two but sometimes for weeks, on the road. So rather than pay for an actual campsite they sleep on the side of the road. It strikes me as (a) cheeky but mostly (b) unsanitary as many don't have self-contained facilities and there are problems with human waste littering the area

It used to be for a handful of weeks in the summer but yesterday there were a dozen or so on the road and in the (free) car parks dotted along. AIBU to think that people should respect a residential area and not claim public space as their private holiday spot?

@EvilPea

It is definitely not travellers. It is families who have hired a van for a cheap UK holiday It’s not cheap hiring a van. It’s an active informed choice to behave like that.

Oh I totally agree it’s a choice. The ones we saw last year were in sight of a free public toilet and still chose not to use it because the pavement was closer. Just dirty fuckers.

@Pumpfive

I have zero problem with "tourists". I do have a problem with CFers. Please can you tell me where in the world I can move to which is CF-free? *@CampingCFs*

But you're tarring all of the campers with the same brush.

It's prejudice, pure & simple.

@Octomore

Even the smallest village in France has an Aire.

As a campervanner who has spent a lot of time in France, this is bollocks. Aires exist, yes, but in some areas you can go a very long way without seeing one. In many areas you only really find them on the motorway network.

I have to disagree with this. We live in France for half the year and have a motorhome. We aren't in a particularly touristy area but there are 4 aires within 10 miles of our village. Yes you have to be on the lookout for the signs, or use one of the websites/apps, but they definitely aren't just near the motorway - most of the ones on the motorway network are just service points, or somewhere to stopover as you are travelling on a long trip.

I didn’t think this was legal in England, so shows what i know.

Sounds terrible OP

@Pumpfive

I have zero problem with "tourists". I do have a problem with CFers. Please can you tell me where in the world I can move to which is CF-free? *@CampingCFs*

But you're tarring all of the campers with the same brush.

People in vans living in public spaces, in a disrespectful way. As I said upthread, I have a van and I stay in campsites.

Lots of people also bought vans and threw a mattress in the back.

Yes, this. Seems to be more couples and single people looking to save money on a break rather than families. They also prearrange to "wild camp" on the sea front with friends so there can be 2 or 3 vans in a row where they all know each other and they spread their stuff out between the vans.

It's like if a group of people sat down with a picnic rug on the pavement in the high street and stayed there for hours. It's not illegal and no one thinks to put signs up, but generally people don't do it out of social conditioning.

It's prejudice, pure & simple.

Lol. I have owned campervans for nearly 20 years.

I live in a coastal town. From March - November (and outwith for a handful of hard core people) we get campervans and motorhomes parking up along various stretches beside the sea.

The general view of the town is that we love it. Its nice to see the lines slowly getting longer as the nicer weather sets in. It's great to see how much they love coming to our town. They shop in our shops, they support our local community. Some stay only a night, some stay for weeks, or even months.

I'm only surprised our council hasn't attempted to monetise on it. There are no facilities for them, but they have an agreement with a local static caravan site for waste disposal. I guess this is spread by word of mouth between themselves.

Its very rare that anyone leaves a mess or behaves in an anti social manner. I suppose they sort any of those issues by themselves. I regularly see a random visitor of a morning, out picking up any litter that's scattered, and they seem to be on great terms with the local council grounds team who cut the grass and look after the surrounding area.

Work with them. There's a way you can both benefit.

We have a fantastic view across the North Sea, its unsurprising they want to visit here.

@CampingCFs

Human waste littering the area? Really?

Yes, really. I have to drag my dog away from it as he thinks it's food The problem was widely reported locally.

It's down to your council in conjunction with the police I would have thought

You can't expect people to know by intuition that you don't want them there

My intuition tells me people don’t want me leaving my shit in the street/beaches

You need to get onto the local council/councillors.
Was becoming an increasing issue near us. Council had to change parking regs (possibly some local byelaw?) and it improved hugely last summer. For example, local longstay carparks changed to only being able to park for 22 hrs unless you had a residents permit. Charged for parking put along the front, with powers to tow. Its a pain having to pay for parking where it used to be free but it means that it isn't seen as a free for all.

It is exactly the same on our coast on the NW. usually when they leave they leave a couple of bin bags of rubbish on the pavement and these get ripped open by the seagulls and we have rubbish and dirty nappies all over the place. The next town up has put parking charges in place and no overnight stays and there’s talk of doing it in our town although the locals are campaigning against that as the charges will affect everyone. Obviously not everybody does this but the selfish ones spoil it for everyone. They have changed a car park to bigger spaces and an overnight charge (I think it’s £5 a night) and some do use this however most want to just park on the prom where it’s free.

@GracieLouFreeebush

You can't expect people to know by intuition that you don't want them there

My intuition tells me people don’t want me leaving my shit in the street/beaches

Do you rely on your intuition to tell you about parking restrictions? Personally, I look at road signs and markings.

@Brideandprejudice

Why are people jumping to blame gypsies and travellers? The OP mentioned nothing about their race.

Because they are prejudiced and for some reason believe that anyone else wouldn't do this, and yet they do.

You could speak to your local councillors about implementing an area plan to look at these issues.

Taking photos of the vileness and posting to a blog would be a good way of keeping a diary and raising awareness with other local people.

I did a litter pick yesterday with a local scout group.It's an extremely rural area although the roads can be dangerous.Our risk assessment has us meeting and returning to a large layby area with parking. There were at least 4 piles of human excrement with tissues, all right beside the bin. The children had snacks and had to be kept away from the bin area completely.
It just depressed the hell out of me, young children giving up their time to litter pick and those who throw the litter out and the phantom shitters just couldn't give a f**k.

@Ownedbymycats

Also sympathies to farmers who are having to put up with this.

It's the few thoughtless idiots that ruin it for everyone.

I will investigate what the local council think. Parking restrictions would cause so much disruption to local businesses and residents that I think it would be unpopular.

[quote Porcupineintherough]@Allelbowsandtoes I think opting out of paying for the disposal of your personal waste and the rubbish you generate shouldnt be optional. If you want to live in a van and roam, or just park up somewhere for a week or two, then that incurs waste disposal costs for someone. I think it should be you.[/quote]
I agree. I have a campervan and I would love not to always stay on sites. But I do, because of this.

I think it it should be ok to park up overnight. I mean, why not if you can fit in the space and none is using it? But it’s not camping. It’s overnight parking or sleeping in a vehicle. (Both are legal). You should be self contained and pay to empty your waste (either by using a campsite every few days or going home). You should not be able to tell by looking if a vehicle if occupied unless it’s open. (I think keeping windows open is tolerable, and there may be condensation. Pop tops are borderline, but probably not). There’s should be nothing on the ground but your wheels. And you should leave nothing but tracks. Always.

If people stayed over like this, then no one would mind. I suppose no one wants to see a row of white campers (or scruffy hand painted vans) along their sea view, although the smaller VW are just cars, legally. However, campsites have changed A LOT in the last twenty years. They have all kinds of fancy facilities, absurd rules and require everyone to park tidily in rows on gravel and pay a £30 a night. I don’t blame people for seeking something less rigid.

I'm a campervanner and can honestly say I've never seen a fellow campervanner have a shit outside their van let alone on the pavement 😱
That said, there's always going to be arseholes (literally 😂)
We have a portable toilet and we either empty it when we get home (only used for wees) or pay to go on a site for one night so we can get rid of our waste.
We take our rubbish home.
Sometimes it's hard to get a place on a site especially out of season when many are closed.
When we park up on a road we don't park near houses and we look for restrictions and also use apps like Park For Night, you'd be surprised how difficult it is to find somewhere that you're allowed to park overnight, I've spent many a night in a layby tucked up amongst the lorries.
That said if campervanners are behaving badly near your home you should ask the council to put up some restriction notices.
Don't tar us all with the same brush, most of us are just trying to enjoy life without irritating anyone

@Campervangirl so where do you poop when you don't stay in a campsite?

The Aires in Europe are fantastic they are often free (€2 for water facilities) or up to €10 and you feel very welcome.
There are hundreds of them mostly on the edge of villages in a municipal area and can be lovely we have stayed in lots and never leave any mess. The rule is that you are parking not camping, so no tables, chairs, awnings etc.
The problem in the UK is that campsites are very expensive with facilities that campervans don't need and not always close to tourist attractions, £30 minimum, extra for children, dogs etc so soon adds up.
Since Brexit full time van lifers who used to spend all winter in sunnier climates can only spend 90 days out of 180 days in the Schengen zone ( most of Europe) so need to spend the other 180 days in the UK.
Campervan sales and conversions have been very popular during Covid and self conversions don't always have toilet facilities. Absolutely no excuse for leaving excrement!!
I think the answer is to adopt the European model and have dedicated parking areas with facilities and restrict overnight camping elsewhere to 24 hours. There could be a small charge for parking and facilities ( or perhaps a bigger charge with some going towards a voucher that the visitor can use in local businesses)

Am I missing something?

Can’t people just dig a hole with a trowl and bury the human waste and then it’s okay for environment and no one else will step in it??

@BluebelllsRosesDaffodills

Am I missing something?

Can’t people just dig a hole with a trowl and bury the human waste and then it’s okay for environment and no one else will step in it??

This doesn't really work people would not bury it deep enough and in popular areas would be too much! Imagine a layby with several campers each with two or more people doing this each and every day!

I think you are a bit of a snob. We have a VW campervan we have converted. We stay anywhere we are legally allowed to. Move house if you don't like sharing your seaside!

PinkCherry-

Could a proper latrine not be dug?

I think the answer is to adopt the European model and have dedicated parking areas with facilities and restrict overnight camping elsewhere to 24 hours.

I do think we should have more aire type places but I fear that in very popular areas of Devon, Dorset and Cornwall they would become clogged with people looking to avoid high campsite fees, and a magnet for people who want to avoid the "no noise after midnight" rules.