Caravan width petition

[Rod_5041370]

My apologies if this features elsewhere on the forum but a search did not show it.

If you believe that the UK should align with the rest of Europe and Eire in allowing caravans up to 2.55 metres in width to be legally towed by vehicles of under 3500kgs GVW, please sign this petition.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/trailer-width/
It probably won't do any good but "nothing ventured, nothing gained".

 

[Lutz]

Actually, you're right with most of Europe but the maximum permissible width in Ireland is 2.5m, not 2.55m.

 

[Rod_5041370]

Yes Lutz, but you can still tow the larger Hobby,Fendt etc caravans in Eire and then use them in the UK for holidays.

 

[Lutz]

Of course. They're only 2.5m wide, not 2.55m.

I agree that linking the width of the caravan (or trailer) with the max. weight of the towcar is rather illogical but I believe that the Department of Transport is already looking into this anomaly

 

[cris_408518]

We have enough problems towing standard width UK caravans on many roads in Britain and through many villages in holiday areas.

Wider vans will not exactly make us any more popular with other road users either if they can see less of the road ahead. And to be fair more than enough people seem to have trouble coping with the width of our present vans.

When they start clipping UK gate posts, petrol pumps and stationary objects due to the extra width we will all end up paying with even higher insurance premiums. And with bigger mirror extensions will half be able to see whats coming from behind as well.

And with a wider van no doubt you will be expected to be pitching up with some "Lucky Heather" a neat line in clothes pegs or a few buckets of tarmac to repair the odd drive way.

 

[LizCornwall]

They are certainly getting wider and longer, next you be seeing a static caravan being towed. You think I am joking, I could not believe my eyes when I saw this static van being towed from a campsite in North Cornwall into a field

 

[Lutz]

I can't understand the concern as it's only bringing the max. width regulation in line with what already applies to LGV's and other lorries.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Rod you are wrong in one respect in your comment....

"Yes Lutz, but you can still tow the larger Hobby,Fendt etc caravans in Eire and then use them in the UK for holidays"..

they don't use them over here for holidays, they use them to live in. They come over in their droves to trash our country/countryside and intimidate our own travellers/gypsies by removing them from designated traveller sites.

I worked next to one, our ambulance station was situated next door, and one night the Irish tinkers arrived and drove the gypsies off. I was on duty that night and saw it with my own eyes and it was me who personally phoned the police. They sent one vehicle and the officer obviously wasn't interested because they continued tho demolish the height barrier when he was there. We had never had problems with the gypsies from the self regulated site but from then on the Irish travellers were the neighbours from hell. They even trashed the shower and laundry blocks, preferring to defficate in the ditch outside of our rest room where we ate. It was a no go zone for the police. At the planning meetings I attended, representing the concerns of the Ambulance Service, we were told that it would be easier to remove trouble makers but as stated previously our fears were unfounded, until the heathens arrived. After about two years they finally left leaving a bill for 1/2 million pounds, to be paid for by us.

I'm sorry for slightly going off topic but thought this was relevant to your post and I've enclosed some pics I took the morning they had left. The cars are ones that they had stolen and trashed. The violence was something else though, even between the kids.

Needless to say I won't be signing a petition.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Rod you are wrong in one respect in your comment....

"Yes Lutz, but you can still tow the larger Hobby,Fendt etc caravans in Eire and then use them in the UK for holidays"..

they don't use them over here for holidays, they use them to live in. They come over in their droves to trash our country/countryside and intimidate our own travellers/gypsies by removing them from designated traveller sites.

I worked next to one, our ambulance station was situated next door, and one night the Irish tinkers arrived and drove the gypsies off. I was on duty that night and saw it with my own eyes and it was me who personally phoned the police. They sent one vehicle and the officer obviously wasn't interested because they continued tho demolish the height barrier when he was there. We had never had problems with the gypsies from the self regulated site but from then on the Irish travellers were the neighbours from hell. They even trashed the shower and laundry blocks, preferring to defficate in the ditch outside of our rest room where we ate. It was a no go zone for the police. At the planning meetings I attended, representing the concerns of the Ambulance Service, we were told that it would be easier to remove trouble makers but as stated previously our fears were unfounded, until the heathens arrived. After about two years they finally left leaving a bill for 1/2 million pounds, to be paid for by us.

I'm sorry for slightly going off topic but thought this was relevant to your post and I've enclosed some pics I took the morning they had left. The cars are ones that they had stolen and trashed. The violence was something else though, even between the kids.

Needless to say I won't be signing a petition.

If I might add the toilet and shower blocks were empty shells, everything saleable had been stripped out of them within days of them arriving. You can see what remains of one block, just a few bricks.

 

[Rod_5041370]

Lord B,

Whilst I agree with your sentiments regarding Irish tinkers,

you must realise that there are normal Irish caravanners that tour the UK and mainland Europe

I know that some are members of this ans other UK forums.

Also, perhaps any caravanner who cannot cope with a 2.5 metre wide caravan shouldn't be towing in the first place, after all we are only talking about 4.5 inches per side!.

Everyone should have the choice, if you can't handle a wide caravan then don't buy one but don't try to dictate to those that can.

 

[cris_408518]

I can't see why Lord B has bothered putting the pictures of such NEAT sites on here ;-) He should see some of them !

As for Lutz's comment there is a bit of differnece between commercial trucks driven by drivers who have to pass a test to drive them and use them probably 5 days a week.

Caravaners hitching 2.5 metres behind much narrower car and heading to the Cornish lanes or Yorkshire villages is a recipe for dissaster for many.

Rods comment is fair in its way, but far to many caravanners are not that safe with what they tow now but will put their hands in their pockets and lash out on tugs and vans that they are a potential meace with.

It only needs a few 2 - 3 thousand mile a year caravanners seeing a new 2.5 metre Swift or Bailey and they will be straight down the dealers for a new one, when they hit a few things in narrow holiday areas you'll find caravans banned the same as trucks!

 

[LizCornwall]

Trouble is the wider and longer the van is, some sites might not be able to cope, ok if it's an open field. Some pitches are standard size, not only that pulling the larger vans on the sites themselves. We have the larger vans here in storage so they never go out on the road, we can cope with larger vans here as we have wider hard standing pitches.

Ps Lord B that was terrible what the pikeys did to the site near you. Disgraceful. Liz

 

[Rod_5041370]

At present I have a Hobby 540 which is the largest one that I can tow with my vehicle which is a Toyota Amazon, GVW 3260kgs.

The Hobby 540 is 7.37 metres shipping length and 2.3 metres wide, 1600kg weight and is single axle.

What I would like is the Hobby 560 which is 20cms longer and 20cms wider than the 540 and is also single axle.

The extra width would just allow me to pass the wife, on my way to the loo, whilst she is using the sink/work surface without the need to do a square dance!

I am not looking to own a 7 metre body length twin axle.

 

[LizCornwall]

At present I have a Hobby 540 which is the largest one that I can tow with my vehicle which is a Toyota Amazon, GVW 3260kgs.

The Hobby 540 is 7.37 metres shipping length and 2.3 metres wide, 1600kg weight and is single axle.

What I would like is the Hobby 560 which is 20cms longer and 20cms wider than the 540 and is also single axle.

The extra width would just allow me to pass the wife, on my way to the loo, whilst she is using the sink/work surface without the need to do a square dance!

I am not looking to own a 7 metre body length twin axle.

You are taking all the fun out of caravanning without that little dance by going bigger, we have a TEC in storage I think you would be able to Line Dance in that one. Liz

 

[LizCornwall]

Hi Rod, Perhaps you could reply to my topic under General, Early Arrivals, if your caravan you wish to purchase is slightly larger than the norm. Liz

 

[Lutz]

Considering how narrow some of the roads in Ireland are and yet the Irish also allow standard European 2.5m wide caravans, I think some replies here are a little overanxious. I don't think that anyone is seriously suggesting that all caravans would be 2.5m wide if the law were changed. The demand for narrower ones will remain, especially for frequent tourers who feel more at ease in traffic with 4" less each side, not to mention newcomers to caravanning, but why not allow 2.5m for those who prefer the extra width which is permitted almost everywhere else? My main gripe about the law is that it links width with weight of the towcar, which is absurd. If a visitor can bring a 2.5m wide caravan legally into the country and drive around without a problem, why shouldn't the Brits too?

 

[Angela_5076436]

It's OK if the car driver knows what he's doing.

I still remember [ and shudder ] the HUGE Irish Fendt caravan that arrived on a Site in the Pyrenees late last spring . Brand new it was - gorgeous looking . Inhabited by 2 adults , a kid of about 5 and a baby of about 3 months. OH - no number plate - a cardboard label in the back window of the van.

They had bought the van in England - never towed before.Straight down to the port. Had had their electric cable stolen from them - had to borrow one for the 2 nights they stayed.

Thought they would go to Italy - asked how to get there , where was it ? Did they have maps - nope.

The lady asked about the water - was it safe to use for the baby's bottles - was stunned when I told her to boil it first !!

The man admitted to my husband that his car wasn't pulling the van very well - it was a Passat of kind of elderly vintage.

They spoke only English - and the Irish accent was so pronounced that even we had problems understanding them.

They pulled off - and frankly - with no wing mirrors they had no vision at all , the van must have been maximum width , the water carriers were nice shiny stainless steel ones that were of the type normally seen with tinker vans , and they sort of struggled off that site - the van had been parked up so it was a straight pull off - but ooooooh how that car struggled.

I'd love to know where they got to - but I can't see them having made Italy.

Maximum width vans - fine if the driver can cope.

 

[cris_408518]

The answer is to ban the over UK width vans from visiting. We're told there are to many vehicles on our roads so that solves part of the problem! Easy

Rod and his Mrs could just try a diet and stick with the same van ;-)

 

[LizCornwall]

Now,Now Cris, No Diets needed, stick to same van and Dance.Liz

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

It's OK if the car driver knows what he's doing.

I still remember [ and shudder ] the HUGE Irish Fendt caravan that arrived on a Site in the Pyrenees late last spring . Brand new it was - gorgeous looking . Inhabited by 2 adults , a kid of about 5 and a baby of about 3 months. OH - no number plate - a cardboard label in the back window of the van.

They had bought the van in England - never towed before.Straight down to the port. Had had their electric cable stolen from them - had to borrow one for the 2 nights they stayed.

Thought they would go to Italy - asked how to get there , where was it ? Did they have maps - nope.

The lady asked about the water - was it safe to use for the baby's bottles - was stunned when I told her to boil it first !!

The man admitted to my husband that his car wasn't pulling the van very well - it was a Passat of kind of elderly vintage.

They spoke only English - and the Irish accent was so pronounced that even we had problems understanding them.

They pulled off - and frankly - with no wing mirrors they had no vision at all , the van must have been maximum width , the water carriers were nice shiny stainless steel ones that were of the type normally seen with tinker vans , and they sort of struggled off that site - the van had been parked up so it was a straight pull off - but ooooooh how that car struggled.

I'd love to know where they got to - but I can't see them having made Italy.

Maximum width vans - fine if the driver can cope.

I wonder if they had an electric cable to start with, it seems as if the caravan was stolen to me :O(

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

It's our 40th wedding anniversary tomorrow and I still enjoy dancing Le Squeeze in the caravan and the horizontal tango once the beds made up :O)

 

[cris_408518]

Well good planned excersise is an essential part of any good diet of course.

So just plan to push the van a bit more.

 

[Lutz]

I take it that reply was rather tongue in cheek. The odd 2.5m caravan more or less on UK roads is not going to make any noticeable difference to traffic density.

Some time ago there was a similar thread in this forum and, out of interest, I checked what proportion of models on the overall European market were 2.5m wide. The result was somewhere around 40% (it's difficult to say exactly because some caravans could be described as variants of the same model).

 

[LizCornwall]

To Lord B and wife, Happy Anniversary for tomorrow, don't do anything I wouldn't do. Liz

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

To Lord B and wife, Happy Anniversary for tomorrow, don't do anything I wouldn't do. Liz

tyvm Liz :O)