Advice please

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Nov 16, 2015
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Ty, I can understand where your thoughts were coming from, and have thought of the same thing for my son who is home from London, he has no work there now, And our thought was if he came came down with the virus he could isolate himself away from us in the caravan, but on our driveway. Thankfully over a week now and we are all ok in self isolation/ distancing.
 
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Mar 14, 2005
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The Covid-19 situation is changing on a daily basis and realistically it's going to get worse before it gets better.

At the risk of being told to shut up again, I urge anyone who is contemplating taking their caravan out to consider the complications when you become ill whilst away from your own home. You have no infrastructure, your medical records will be elsewhere, and you'll adding your burden onto a system that is at the point of collapsing.

It's not just you, you should be considering, it's the extended effect your incapacity will have on others.

LIve in your caravan at your own house! that should be enough isolation.
 
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Nov 11, 2009
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There’s not only the interactions re payment, food, fuel but a breakdown en route or RTA would necessitate the recovery company to attend. Can you guarantee they will be working or will attend. RTA could involves emergency services who don't need the unnecessary burden.
 
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Jan 31, 2018
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If you can live in your caravan on the drive, you'll isolate your family and yourselves. Other than that I really wouldn't risk it or a site; you may get stuck there anyway!
 
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Sep 5, 2016
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Ty,
I'm not going to have a go but by the end of this week you will not have anywhere to go by then all sites should be shut, the Cornish have alread said that we should keep away from their county and I certainly would not consider travelling to north wales remember the saying from years ago "Come home to a living fire buy a cottage in wales" , now that is tongue in cheek but I certainly would not venture anywhere in the country,
 

Parksy

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Nov 12, 2009
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Apparently there's been a degree of hostility towards visitors from locals in holiday destinations and seaside towns.
A moron who owns a static caravan on a holiday site in Wales was asked not to travel, he allegedly retorted that he'd do what he liked and he threatened to cough all over local residents and to lick their door handles.
Heaven help him if the locals discover his identity, he won't be made welcome.
 
Sep 5, 2016
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Apparently there's been a degree of hostility towards visitors from locals in holiday destinations and seaside towns.
A moron who owns a static caravan on a holiday site in Wales was asked not to travel, he allegedly retorted that he'd do what he liked and he threatened to cough all over local residents and to lick their door handles.
Heaven help him if the locals discover his identity, he won't be made welcome.
Must say he must be a very brave man sorry stupid the last people he needs to upset in north wales are The sons of ?????, he might go out for the day and come back to a pile ashes
 
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Nov 16, 2015
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I wonder have all these people going out like this, been caused by the pubs and eaterys being closed, and having to spend time with their familys.
I have just seen a video of Dunstable Downs yesterday, it was packed. Muppets.
Just waiting for a delivery of six pints of Free beer, from my local pub. He is giving away his stock before it goes off, a nice jesture.
 
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Sep 5, 2016
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I wonder have all these people going out like this, been caused by the pubs and eaterys being closed, and having to spend time with their familys.
I have just seen a video of Dunstable Downs yesterday, it was packed. Muppets.
Just waiting for a delivery of six pints of Free beer, from my local pub. He is giving away his stock before it goes off, a nice jesture.
I missed out on saturday lunch at the legion my mate went ln to dispose of the stock I think more got supped,
 

Parksy

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Nov 12, 2009
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Hi All

I must admit that every one is correct as i stated earlier this was not about going away just separating ourselves from.our son
We are staying put time to get on with some minor home improvements

Again appolagies for any offence caused

Ty
No apology needed Ty.
We were concerned, not offended.
It took me a week or so for the seriousness of the present situation to sink in, none of us have ever experienced anything like it in our lives.
 
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Jul 28, 2008
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To go back to the original question and the salesman’s response, whilst I’m not saying what is right and wrong with regards to towing ratios, (that’s for individuals to decide), I would take issue with his comment about the Practical Caravan tow car reviews.

For the purposes of the testing, David Motton tries to limit the ratio to 85% as per both major Clubs’ recommendations. There’s nothing more to say on that.

As the caravans are borrowed for the testing, it would be totally impractical to either load or ballast them (as we do for the Tow Car Awards, which requires securing framework and boxes fitting to the caravans, and then careful ballasting with water containers to get as exact figures as possible), so David selects a caravan with a MIRO around that 85% mark, so that he is testing at around 85%. It has nothing to do with potential payloads as the salesman suggests, it’s purely as stated above. We know that caravans usually ride and tow better with some weight in them, but as stated, practicalities prevent this.

Each and every car is different. I can say that from experience gained at the Tow Car Awards (where we have experimented with different ratios - between 85% and 100%), there are some popular cars that I wouldn’t personally chose to tow a wheelie bin with, let alone a caravan, whereas others are incredibly secure whatever weight their towing or what the weather’s throwing at us.
 
May 7, 2012
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I take what you say, but having been employed to investigate the accidents I am firmly of the belief that although 85% is probably a bit lower than needed, no sales staff should be suggesting to customers that anything near the almost 100% figure quoted here is safe. As you say the towing ability of cars varies and to me a margin of safety is essential. It is clear the towing limit is there to show what it can tow but not what it can tow safely as this depends on the trailer itself as well.
If you give advice on this subject and something goes wrong then you can be sued if that advice is negligent, and in this case it probably was. In the modern world with more and more litigation about then far more caution is needed.
When asked the question, the salesman should have pointed out the advice on towing ratios as if you do not then you are not nswering the question correctly. It does sound as though commission was more important to him than the clients safety.
 
Jul 28, 2008
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I think we’re singing from the same hymn sheet here. I too spent many years investigating collisions (the last ten years of my Police service was as a Forensic Collision Investigator (formally AIM) and fifteen years as a Traffic Officer prior to that. Whenever I am asked about towing ratios, the simplest answer to give is that you need the heaviest tow vehicle possible with the lightest caravan possible. Now, obviously in the real world things aren’t as simple.

What we have regularly found at the Tow Car Awards (even in the Heavyweight Class) is that the same caravan (ballasted exactly the same, for example it’s likely to be to its MTPLM with the noseweight at 100kg for the caravan’s maximum when several cars’ towing limits exceed both the caravan’s figures) will behave totally different behind different tow cars. As I said previously, there are some that are totally in control and “bully” the caravans into submission, especially in the more vigorous manoeuvres, whereas others it almost appears to be the other way around. You only have to look at the results to see which I’m talking about. What is interesting is that any vehicle that doesn‘t “feel” great to the driver, that feeling in invariably backed up from the Al-Ko ATC unit’s data.

Also, the same outfit driven by different people will behave differently. Some people have a very smooth driving style, whilst others are very ragged and rough. There are so many variables to be definitive.

I think that there are two issues with the OP’s salesman. Firstly there’s probably a total lack of understanding or experience of towing regarding weights, and secondly, he wants to sell a caravan come what may.
 
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