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?

@Libertybear80

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!

I also have a camper van that I have converted but nothing as posh as a VW I don't stay anywhere I'm "legally allowed", I consider the environment, local residents and whether my van would be a nuisance.

I don't think it's snobbish to want the same consideration from others. It's part of the social contract.

@XmasElf10

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

I used to be a motor homer. It is not uncommon for people who own a motorhome worth £159,000, to begrudge paying a small fee to dump their sewage. Instead they do their business in plastic lined buckets and deposit them in the nearest bin.

As a campervanner who has spent a lot of time in France, this is bollocks

That's not been my experience. We also campervan extensively in France and we've never struggled to find one, and many many towns and villages have at least one.
Spain is rapidly catching up as well, especially inland.

What that poster said was that "even the smallest village has an aire". Has that really been your experience?

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

[/quote]
I can’t speak for Campervangirl, but we use local cafes - we buy breakfast and have a poo afterwards. Or use the toilets in supermarkets or garages or even public toilets.
I have never seen anyone take a dump on the pavement.

What that poster said was that "even the smallest village has an aire". Has that really been your experience?

I mean probably not literally every single village but many do, I have certainly never had to spend hours looking for one, generally it's a case of open Park4Night and there's loads to choose from.

I know the motorway type ones you mean and we wouldn't stay there, always thought they were more aimed at trucks, maybe caravans?

@Octomore

What that poster said was that "even the smallest village has an aire". Has that really been your experience?

Not every village but lots do. We have never had any trouble finding somewhere to stay. There are guidebooks and apps that tell you where to find them. There is also a book called France passion that gives vineyards, farm shops etc where you can stay if you buy something. In UK the equivalent is Britstops.

In fact I would say in some areas every village probably does have an aire, yes, now that I think about it, even if it's just at the sports centre parking or something but they'll have put in a tap and a waste emptying bit.

@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.

I believe this 100%. The summer after lockdown #1 was an absolute nightmare in the West Wales seaside town nearest to us. What can only be described as a shanty town erupted on the harbourside car park as soon as the LA removed parking charges to encourage people to visit again. Motorhomes everywhere. Litter everywhere, faeces visible in the public bins, local people being abused for challenging and/or filming motor home owners who were, quite literally, emptying their chemical toilets INTO THE SEA.

@Branleuse

If you dont like tourists, then there are probably less touristy areas you could move to

So op should completely change her location, job, way of life & proximity to friends & family because CFers in camper vans don’t know how be be respectful to the environment they are parking in

That sounds grim @LadyMonicaBaddingham. I wonder if it's where things might head here if it isn't clamped down on.

The trouble is, OP, you're raising several different issues and you want people to consider them as one. They aren't.

People have agreed, universally, that leaving human waste lying around is disgusting and unacceptable. There has been sensible discussion about how this problem could be mitigated (more public toilets, better facilities for campers/travellers). Same goes for rubbish - of course it's unacceptable to leave it lying around. Nobody disagrees.

You, however, want people to agree that ANY camping/campervanning in a public space is wrong, and that people should either pay for a designated campsite or stay at home. This is bigoted, small-minded bollocks. People have always exercised their right to travel around the country freely, taking with them their means of sleeping and eating, and enjoying the freedom that that brings. There is no rule, written or otherwise, that says you're not allowed to visit and enjoy an area unless you are spending money there.

So you have a point, though it isn't an original or controversial one, about people actively polluting public spaces with excrement and rubbish. A sensible discussion is being had about how that could best be tackled. But you are absolutely wrong to claim that simply parking up in a perfectly legal spot and enjoying the scenery is CFery. It isn't. It may outrage you to think that somebody is getting something for nothing, but it's just tough, I'm afraid.

You, however, want people to agree that ANY camping/campervanning in a public space is wrong, and that people should either pay for a designated campsite or stay at home.

I didn't say that nor did I mean to imply it. In my later posts I mentioned that a certain amount of discreet camping on the coast road has always happened and people have coexisted nicely. It's only in the last few years it's been contentious.

@BlindGirlMcSqueaky

If there are no restrictions, then yes you are being unreasonable. You can't expect people to know by intuition that you don't want them there.

They should know not to relieve themselves in public areas though. Gross.

@Octomore

What that poster said was that "even the smallest village has an aire". Has that really been your experience?

It wasn't me who said that, but I'll answer anyway We have never stayed anywhere near a motorway, always in villages - So many have aires, as I said there are 4 near us and we aren't in a particularity touristy destination. Actually, I've just checked and there are 7 not 4!

Park4 night and some other sites have loads of great places to stay. Most are aires, some are just places where is fine to spend the night. We've got some fab favourites tucked away in tiny medieval villages.

Aires with appropriate facilities, respected by visitors would be the ideal solution to the UK problem. Sadly I'm just not sure people would respect them the same way they do in mainland Europe.

I wild camp and the mantra is, ‘Leave no trace’. I’m frequently appalled at the rubbish and human waste I spot in remote locations. I can fully believe that people in vans do similar.

They’re eventually going to spoil things for those who do it respectfully. Arseholes.

I live on the south coast, right by the beach and forest.
We had this during lockdown, people parking up vans etc, these people usually have a UK home but rent it out, kids live in it etc, then they spend time touring Europe etc. When lockdown hit they couldn't just go back to their houses, European countries were kicking them out, campsites here were closed so they didn't have anywhere else to go but to park up in free areas. What didn't help was public toilets being closed, we had a hell of a problem with people toileting behind beach huts etc.
Whilst there are few who give the rest a bad name and these are the ones you notice, there are many who are responsible and respectful who come and go without you really noticing.

Campaign for resident parking permits after say 8pm.

I live in a seaside town, a short train ride from a major tourist city. The problem is not the occasional responsible camper, it's that people post popular free locations on 'wild camping' sites and then you get 15 vans turning up. And if there's no space there they park in adjacent residential streets. I have a camper van, I can't ever imagine parking in front of someone's house. imo if you can afford to but or rent some of these, you can afford to pay for a campsite.

We have a lovely harbour with good toilets, even a shower (for people coming off the beach). You can only imagine how popular that is! Then during the summer, day tourists can't park because 30 spaces are taken up by huge vans.

I agree we should have more 'aires'. And more campsites.

No you anbu in that anyone who leaves mess and waste is out of order. On the other hand, the only option people in towns and cities have had over the past couple of years has been to visit the more scenic and related to this better off off areas. I have also not liked sharing with some of the 'new' camping types on trips away who have switched holidaying in Ibiza to what has usually been a quiet rural retreat. We have got to live and let live, one cannot own and expect their own idyllic part of the country to be kept as that, a lot of u would live to afford to live places like this and the only way we can we can experience it is by camping. So yes and no, we are respectful and pay for sites, some can't afford to. X

I also look at the fact us brits invade various villages/towns in france/Spain etc for our holidays so that must annoy the locals there (there are too many Brits behaving badly type TV programmes to deny this). So I guess it's all a big vicious circle.

@Summerofcontent

www.britstops.com/

For a responsible, one night only, free stopover

I was going to post about Britstops!

My late partner and I had a motorhome for a few years, and we used them a lot. It's a fantastic scheme, and a lot of places are perfectly happy for you to stay more than one night. Farm shops and similar were a favourite, because they were lovely and quiet once the shop had shut and they usually had cafes where you could get a nice breakfast in the morning.

Ours had a toilet and shower, and we would never have dreamed of emptying the bog at the side of the road, or anywhere else inappropriate.

OP you need to go to a meeting of your local parish council and ask what can be done. We had a similar issue with people from other areas driving to our village to use our residential roads as a free commuter carpark then walking to the station and commuting to London (lewving the very reasonably priced station car park empty 🧐). Took a while to sort out but our parish councillors successfully lobbied the district council to introduce a 6 hr parking limit +fines on those roads. Problem gone… Seems to me that would work in your area.

Do you live in Coverack?

We live in a tourist area and it is exactly the same, there are no overnight parking signs but no one pays any attention and there are not enough police to stop it. People park anywhere sometimes in peoples gardens and it just gets worse every year.