Packed in like Sardines are there any Legal Regulations

[PhilJoanne-SwiftCorniche173]

Our last trip out was to a site at Windermere, we liked the look of the site from there website, roomy and not on top of each other, or so we thought, they had an area for statics and tourers and a seperate field for tents, we had booked in advance for the bank holiday weekend, first day was great and then tents started to be pitched amoungst the tourers, mid afternoon a tent the size of saint pauls cathedral was pitched 18 inches from my tow hitch, we were out at the time so were taken aback at how close they had pitched, the site seemed to have taken the pack them in and make more money line, my question is, is there a minimum distance that units/tent should be kept apart for ie fire reasons/gas explosion ?

Phil

 

[emmerson2]

Six metres is the accepted norm. Not sure about legal though.

 

[ThePlotter]

It is a legal requirement and photos to the local council would see their site licence revoked.It seems this is common in areas popular with walkers,I have just been on the Gower and tents flood in have no regard for spacing,or driving slowly (we had a school minibus driving through at around 20mph or more)or how to use the facilities.

 

[PhilJoanne-SwiftCorniche173]

is it 6 metres with the awning up ? we went to Haven at Blackpool once, packed in so close you could pass toast to each other in the morning,

 

[ThePlotter]

Interestingly there is another post on here at the moment about the same thing and that is also about a site in the Lakes.

 

[PhilJoanne-SwiftCorniche173]

wouldnt be Park Cliffe would it ?

 

[DanPaula]

Is it Lowther Park?? You will need to let us all know as we will know not to book it.

 

[Lara_374353049]

Is it Lowther Park?? You will need to let us all know as we will know not to book it.

We've been to Lowther Park a few times, it's a long way from Windermere, so doubt it's this one. It's a very nice site, and we've never had a problem with units being too close. Lara.

 

[joeby]

surely it should be down the wardens to walk around the site now and again ,

 

[ThePlotter]

6 metres caravan wall to wall excluding awning

 

[ValA.]

I'd like to think that Councils really did revoke licences - sadly they don't. I complained to Scarborough Council about one site we stayed on. There were more caravans than the site was supposed to have total pitches, and about 120 tents on top of that, some of them very close together!!! During the night a car rolled down the hill from one of the caravans, and fortunately went in the opposite direction to the tents!!! It could have been carnage.

I took photographs and counted units, but to no avail. I also complained about the standard of the 'two shower blocks' which were actually disgusting, with wet chipboard, woodlice, and rubbish in the ladies. I got a very dismissive reply from the Council - and they wouldn't actually tell me how many pitches the site was 'licensed' for.

We've usually stayed on Caravan Club sites, which are generally to a standard, or on sites in France, so I was pretty disgusted by the conditions on this site. It's still being recommended by some magazines!

 

[joeby]

we stayed at a very nice in Wales recently , and some inspector was going around with the owners or wardens ,we were sitting outside ,so were a few others ,but the inspectors never seem to go around on there own ,allthough she said good morning ,and took some photo's ,she could have stopped and spoken to a few people sitting around ,and got an opinion from them

 

[MrsMothy]

We stay on CLs a lot but are not keen on CSs. Sometimes on CLs they let extra vans on which if there is room isn't a problem but is obviously outside the license laws. On CSs however they often have a MINIMUM not a MAXIMUM of 5 vans plus loads of tents. If you go out by car, you find you can't drive back to your pitch even though they tell you to park near your pitch because there are guy ropes everywhere. We are not anti social but we would rather not have strangers camping IN our awning.

 

[Surfer]

If they are obstructing access to your caravan, ask them to move and if they don't, pull up the offending guy ropes.

I did that and a big ugly hairy monster crawled out and asked what the hell I was doing to which I replied I was relocating his guy ropes so that I would not damage them with my vehicle when i was accessing my caravan.

Muttering he relocated his guy ropes by actually moving his tent. I expected a confrontation but the monster backed off probably because he was still sober. Guess I was a bit lucky but then I was extremely annoyed also.

 

[RogerL]

Site licences specify the maximum number of caravans or motorhomes - but not usually tents because their size varies so much.

6 metres between facing walls of caravans and motorhomes is the safety requirement - awnings and tents aren't taken into account.

I guess the answer is to only go to sites with marked pitches or those that don't accept tents.