"Overcamping" on C&CC Certificated Sites - The answer

[Auvergne]

Hi,

You may remember I posted recently about our ruined Bank Holiday Weekend when we pulled on to a Certificated Site which was chock a block, greatly exceeding the 5 van rule. Interestingly I have noticed other posts about overcamping and thought you'd be interested in the reply I had from the C&CC today which explains all!

"All Certificated Sites are inspected annually by our dedicated team of Site Officers, who take all steps to ensure that site owners understand what our member's expectations are and that the site is operated in accordance with Club Rules.

The Club investigates all allegations of over camping from our members or the local authority and takes a very firm line on sites breaking this rule or misusing the certificate issued to them. We will be asking one of our Site Officers to do a drop in visit on this site to investigate the claims made in your letter and should the owners be found to be PERSISTENTLY overcamping, the Club CAN and MAY revoke the certificate issued.

The Club however cannot be held responsible for any such breach of the terms and conditions on a Certificated Site. CSs are listed as a benefit to members, but they are not operated centrally by the Club and are run entirely by the land owner".

Any comments?

 

[Surfer]

Although it was overcrowded, did it cause you any inconvenience? Be grateful that the site was available as the landowner is under no obligation to keep it open.

I don't see an issue as quite often people never bother to phone to cancel as the owner loses out so the landowner may have a tendency to overbook. At other times he may have no one on site but still needs to maintain it which costs the landowner money. It would be a real shame if another CS was lost because some one did not like more than 5 caravans on the same field site.

The farm CL that we use a lot was fully booked for the August Bank holiday weekend but only two other caravans pitched up leaving him with 3 vacancies. We use another area no where near the CL.

 

[Auvergne]

Hi Ian,

Yes, it did cause us inconvenience which I won't go into as I have already posted on it.

If a site is advertised by the C&CC on their website as a CS and therefore a 5 van site it is false representation and nothing less. If the landowners do not want to abide by that, why have it registered as a CS? They don't have to. When I choose a site I make an informed choice to go there or not if the information given is correct.

When you chose your CL for the August Bank Holiday would you have been as keen to stay if there were 30 vans pitched and more tents than you can shake a stick at? I think not, you surely must go to CLs for the same reason I do.

 

[Parksy]

We often use certified sites and we've sometimes found that the 5 vans are pitched in a separate area to the other goodness knows how many.

This ensures that they are advertised in the C&CC 'Big Sites Book' as certified sites but really they ought to state whether they are just 5 van sites or if they have another campsite in the next field or even in the same one.

We've found one or two certified sites that are guilty of misrepresentation in one way or another, usually the advertised prices are wrong.

Having said that we stayed on a nice but rustic certified site last week in the Peak District and just as we were setting up another unit pulled onto the site. He didn't stop but turned round to go out again.

The site owner caught up with him at the entrance and asked if he was staying and it turned out that the guy had telephoned to 'reserve' a pitch but was expecting a club house, gym and swimming pool. For eleven quid a night !! The site owner had reserved the pitch and as luck had it another unit pulled in on the off chance so the pitch wasn't wasted.

I don't think that there are any restrictions on the number of tents that can be pitched and when we telephone nowadays we always ask if tents share the same field and if the price is correct and including ehu.

If the answer is 'yes' to the first question and 'no' to the second we look for somewhere else.

 

[Guest]

Have always wondered about these places,and why on earth a landowner would set up for 5 vans which if he/she is lucky might bring them in a few,very few quid a week..on a good week that is.

I am sure i too would not be best pleased,but as bank holiday was mentioned,might it be a case of something that happens once in a blue moon and a way of getting a little more money into the coffers to make it worth there while to stay open?

Whats the alternative? fewer cl's might mean far higher prices or worse still no available space for you or i.....

 

[Chrisbee]

I stand to be corrected but I thought that CL's used a licence from the Caravan Club. This restricts the number of units to a maximum of 5. That way the CL owner doesn't have to have a local authority licence for a "commercial campsite" and all the planning restricts and red tape that entails.

 

[Chrisbee]

I stand to be corrected but I thought that CL's used a licence from the Caravan Club. This restricts the number of units to a maximum of 5. That way the CL owner doesn't have to have a local authority licence for a "commercial campsite" and all the planning restricts and red tape that entails.

Should read "restrictions"

 

[jag.19v]

I stand to be corrected but I thought that CL's used a licence from the Caravan Club. This restricts the number of units to a maximum of 5. That way the CL owner doesn't have to have a local authority licence for a "commercial campsite" and all the planning restricts and red tape that entails.

Why should the site owners feel they can ignore the 5 van rule? I booked a c&cc site for Friday, on arrival six vans were already there. That's OK said the owner, only 3 are occupied.

( In fact 5 were ). I left and had to find an alternative site, at 5:00 on a busy Friday evening.

 

[donb]

If all sites that are operating as a members only cs or cl then they are operating under a license issued by DEFRA to that club to allow five vans without the benifit of planning permission or site conditions issued under the caravan site and control of developement act 1960.The clubs should not say they have no control as it is their license they are operating under if it is indeed for members only, other sites that are just listed in the club books should be controlled by the local authority but their are some who simply refuse to apply for a license.