Caravans and caravanners - opinions please

[bagpuss]

Having just posted to Blondie's get well soon thread, I suddenly got to thinking of an interesting if controversial poll we could have here on tMP.

So here it is:-


Caravans and caravanners - love em..........or BAN EM???????????

Opinions please and also possible guesses before a flame war is started on this thread!!!!

B. Puss esq

[Cornishwomble]

..i am a dedicated camper and go most weekends. however i use a tent. i think that caravans are cheating. it makes me laugh when i see a caravan turn up and it looks like they've moved house.
it makes me laugh even more when they put their sky dishes up and stay in the caravan with the curtains closed every night. i can't help wondering why they don't just stay at home
..and most caravan owners could do with driving lessons and learn to realise that driving around small country lanes with half a house strapped to the back, is not the same as legging it into town in their fiestas!
..ok rant over!

[twigglet]

Caravans and caravanners are all good when stationary but I agree that when travelling they can be very dangerous. Only a few weeks ago an elderley gentleman was knocked down outside the pub that I work at because of someone towing a caravan and not using their mirrors (luckily he is ok now)

I don't know if you have to have one, but perhaps there should be a caravan towing test??? I know that now you have to have one to tow a trailer if you passed your test after a certain date, so surely you should to tow a caravan. There may already be one, correct me if I'm wrong..... just my innane ramblings :wink:

[Naomi McFadyen]

Always been caravanning since I was a kid...
Nothing wrong with caravans... it's the drivers! If drivers don't know how to treat a caravan, dont use the mirrors, dont know lane disapplin, and dont know the speeds etc etc, then thats when all the accidents start to happen...

[Roger Thorne]

I think the government has overlooked a nice little 'money earner' here. If they applied a 'Caravan' Tax as they do with cars, they could leave Booze and Ciggies alone in the next budget. Let's be honest they take up twice as much space so why not pay twice as much tax.

Only a thought! :roll:

:wink:

[Cornishwomble]

i have recollections as a kid growing up in Cornwall when the roads were smaller and worse than they are now. every summer used to be a nightmare of being stuck behind caravans on the way back from the beach. it was worse than the tractors.

[bagpuss]

I think the government has overlooked a nice little 'money earner' here. If they applied a 'Caravan' Tax as they do with cars, they could leave Booze and Ciggies alone in the next budget. Let's be honest they take up twice as much space so why not pay twice as much tax.

Only a thought! :roll:

:wink:

Absolutely agree with you Roger, lorries have to pay a huge amount of road tax etc because of their size so why not people who own/tow caravans.

When you think of it, caravanners are getting off lightly, they only pay tax for their car (caravans are about the same size as a car so why not pay more tax?) They don't have to pay tax to live in them (as far as I know, no council tax in a caravan). A caravan does not have to be MOT'd (correct me if I'm wrong) so can be completely unroadworthy.

On the downside to being a caravanner, it appears (judging by EVERY caravanner I've met on the roads), that you have to have at least a partial lobotomy to tow a caravan and be a caravanner, you have to forget everything you were ever taught about driving and have to go out of your way to be annoying to every other road user. Even tractors aren't THAT annoying!!!!!

Flame on!!

Puss

[Roger Thorne]

John's thinking about buying a caravan Daz!

:lol: :lol:

[super_sop]

..i am a dedicated camper and go most weekends. however i use a tent. i think that caravans are cheating. it makes me laugh when i see a caravan turn up and it looks like they've moved house.
it makes me laugh even more when they put their sky dishes up and stay in the caravan with the curtains closed every night. i can't help wondering why they don't just stay at home
..and most caravan owners could do with driving lessons and learn to realise that driving around small country lanes with half a house strapped to the back, is not the same as legging it into town in their fiestas!
..ok rant over!
ditto

[Naomi McFadyen]

it makes me laugh even more when they put their sky dishes up and stay in the caravan with the curtains closed every night. i can't help wondering why they don't just stay at home
maybe cos people like to get away from home... in which they've probably left 3 screaming kids, the huge barking dog, the mother-in-law and the noisy neighbours behind :wink:

[Cornishwomble]

it makes me laugh even more when they put their sky dishes up and stay in the caravan with the curtains closed every night. i can't help wondering why they don't just stay at home
maybe cos people like to get away from home... in which they've probably left 3 screaming kids, the huge barking dog, the mother-in-law and the noisy neighbours behind :wink:

..ah but that's just it, they bring them along with them and let them maraude outside making the campsite look like a scene from "Snatch". In fact on more than one occasion I've nervously looked around waiting for a Brad Pitt lookalike to ask me if I want to buy a "Dag" :?

[JessopSmythe]

I don't know if you have to have one, but perhaps there should be a caravan towing test??? I know that now you have to have one to tow a trailer if you passed your test after a certain date, so surely you should to tow a caravan. There may already be one, correct me if I'm wrong..... just my innane ramblings :wink:

The new trailer test does include caravans, and any other type of trailer weighing more than 750kg. The problem is, it does nothing about the huge number of appalling drivers already out there who have the trailer entitlement. Since most caravan owners tend to be older people, it'll be quite a few years before we see the effects of the new licencing rules. Until then, I agree with mr. puss. In fact, it could provide useful employment for redundant hounds if the fox hunting ban goes through

[JessopSmythe]

Absolutely agree with you Roger, lorries have to pay a huge amount of road tax etc because of their size so why not people who own/tow caravans.


Absolutely true, infact, lorry owners also have to pay tax on their trailers as well as the tractor unit and submit them vehicle inspectorate testing every 6-12 weeks. Not to mention the costs of applying for an operators licence in the first place. Lets start a tMP petition.


MORE TAX ON CARAVANS

[Naomi McFadyen]

Nooooo... we want less tax on EVERYTHING!!

[bigmamabadger]

The new trailer test does include caravans, and any other type of trailer weighing more than 750kg. blah blah blah

nyer nyer nyer, who just got his HGV and knows everything there is to know about trucks, trailers and tows?

Caravans are only cool if they are towed behind an enormous Goldwing, and even that's debatable.
They are also cool if made of camels and carry spices of the mysterious east.

BMB. Who much prefers to loiter within tent. :twisted:

[michellegarbutt]

I love my caravan and use it regularly. I must admit though I don't have any electric in my van and I refuse to get it installed. It wouldn't be like camping if I did. Although caravans don't have to have an mot they must be roadworthy. Anyone caught towing an 'unroadworthy' caravan can be prosecuted. I suppose all you people who want caravans banned have no intention of coming on our tmp camping and caravanning weekend next year? (details will be posted in the New Year and a Poll taken to see which site people want to go to.)

[Jo Elson]

Having just posted to Blondie's get well soon thread, I suddenly got to thinking of an interesting if controversial poll we could have here on tMP.

Hmmmmm, excuse me if I don't see the link here: Blondie, get well and caravans?
i may get confused easily but i think this is justified.

However in response to your'interesting if contoversial poll' I don't have a problem with caravans although I'd much rather camp out. Although if, or more positively when, I pass my driving test I may have a different view on them!

[bigmamabadger]

I suppose all you people who want caravans banned have no intention of coming on our tmp camping and caravanning weekend next year? (details will be posted in the New Year and a Poll taken to see which site people want to go to.)

Well up for this! :D
Can I suggest Shell Island in North Wales? Bit of a hike for some people but enormous site in which entire tMP could be lost without trace.
Although have strange voice in my head (must get that seen to) saying they don't allow caravans, only camper vans and tents. Hmmm. :roll:

I guess somewhere fairly central is best, and I personally would vote for somewhere quite remote where we can make us own entertainment.
bmb

[bagpuss]

..... and I personally would vote for somewhere quite remote where we can make us own entertainment.

Somewhere remote where you can ceremonially sacrifice caravans????
Somewhere remote so you can build a medieval trebuchet (see one of the Jeremy Clarkson videos for sizes etc) and launch caravans into oblivion??

That I would pay to see!!!!


Puss puss

[JessopSmythe]

Although have strange voice in my head (must get that seen to) saying they don't allow caravans, only camper vans and tents. Hmmm.


Sounds perfect :D

[Ray Woods]

Only a few weeks ago, in the baking heat of the Southern UK sun, the fabulous Mid Sussex Brass Band (based in Burgess Hill) had the wonderful honour of playing a mid afternoon concert at a caravan rally.

A caravan rally is NOT driving caravan's around a gravely forest course at high speed with a navigator shouting unintelligible things in your ear (shame). A caravan rally is an opportunity for 10's if not 100's of likeminded caravaners, who have joined the 'Caravan Club' or some such organisation to congregate in one large gathering to:
1. Show off your pride and joy
2. Meet old friends
3. Meet new friends
4. Play frisby and French Cricket
5. NOT listen to a brass band

A hint of sarcasm you may detect in item 5. above. But I can hardly blame the 200 plus caravers who had parked their caravans at Worthing Rugby club for not wanting to waste 2 hours of the best British summer has to offer in terms of heat and sun by sitting in a marquee listening to a brass band.

But the show must go on, so we played to the audience that we outnumbered, and assumed that the rest of the caravaners that day were down on Worthing Beach where we all wanted to be.

I think that we were lucky, well certainly luckier than anybody travelling on the normally busy and choked up A27 which passes North of Worthing when 200 caravaners took to the road after their weekend of fun and frollicks in the sun. One or two of them might have made it home by now.

But on the bright side, brass bands are noisey, and caravan walls are thin, so I think we may have 'entertained' a few more caravaners than we though that day.

Oh and by the way, the Burgess Hill based mid Sussex Brass Band is always on the lookout for new players to join in the fun concerts (we do have betters gig than the one above) and contests. If you are interested in joining the band, Email:
rayandsue.woods@btinternet.com

[ian perks]

Blow The Lot Up:-d

[Di]

The problem is, it does nothing about the huge number of appalling drivers already out there who have the trailer entitlement. Since most caravan owners tend to be older people, it'll be quite a few years before we see the effects of the new licencing rules. Until then, I agree with mr. puss. In fact, it could provide useful employment for redundant hounds if the fox hunting ban goes through
You don't have to have a trailer on the back to be an appalling driver! There are millions of poor drivers all over the country (most of 'em men :-D :rolleyes: but thats another can of worms! Maybe Mr Perks would like to ressurect the topic for us.;) ) And to say that most caravanners are old people is a huge generalisation.

Caravans are fast growing as THE way to take a family on holiday. Given the correct set up between caravan and car (yes there are strict rules about weight ratios), caravanners are as safe as any other vehicle on the road.

As you may have guessed, yes I am a caravanner and have been since I was a kid, but it doesn't stop me being appalled when we pass poor set ups, such as cars that are too small for the job, set ups without stabilizers etc, (yup, there's rules about that too!).

And yes, sorry to say so, but I do set up a satellite (mostly when we're abroad for a long period of time). How else would we have seen The Great Kelly Homes achieve her Golden Double. :p ;) . Just because you have all the mod cons of your own home, it doesn't mean to say you are "not on holiday". Just getting away from the mad, crazy, dashing around of "normal" life and to be able to take in the sites and the countryside for a few days, then come back and relax in comfort is bliss.

[JessopSmythe]

And to say that most caravanners are old people is a huge generalisation.


I never said old, I said older. By that, I meant that there are very few caravanners who passed their driving tests after the legislation changed. This means that it'll be a very long time before every caravanner on the road has had proper towing lessons and passed an approved test.

[lynchie]

I don't like caravanners simply because I've been told by the "Caravan Club" that any caravanner who sees a queue building behind them will pull over as soon as possible... the reality is they'll let a mile of cars queue up behind them, going past numerous lay-bys, and not even assist people with overtaking by signalling when it's clear.... Eventually the impatient people in the queue start trying silly overtaking manouvers, and it can all get very messy.

I'm sure there are some good caravan drivers out there, I've just never met one on the road!