Visit Great Britain in 2015

[Eva]

As the subject says, we want to visit Great Britain in the summer of 2015. Our plan is to take a ferry from Holland or maybe drive all the way down to Calais...but first we have some details we need to work on. The rumour here in Sweden says that our caravan is to big. My question is, how is the rules and the laws? How long can a caravan be om the road? How wide? How heavy? Please, if you can, give me the answer in centimeter and kilo.

And here is the picture I promised earlier.....I hope.
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[RogerL]

Welcome to the forum - the normal limits for trailers towed by vehicles under 3500kg maximum weight are:- maximum trailer weight 3500kg, maximum width 2550mm, maximum body length (excluding drawbar) 7000mm - BUT - under an international convention any vehicle that's legal in it's home country is permitted as a visitor elsewhere for up to 6 months.

It's not that unusual to see overseas visitors, mainly German with 8000mm body length Hobby's - you would need to advise campsites of the width and overall length (including drawbar) as some pitches may be too small.

It may be worth joining the Caravan Club (CC) or the Caravan & Camping Club (C&CC) for the year to use their club sites or 5-van sites called Certificated Location (CL) and Certificated Site(CS) respectively - the CC is roughly twice the size in members and sites.

Hope that helps as a start.

Just looked at your picture - it's big isn't it !!

 

[Eva]

Beautiful! That's just the information I needed.

Well, our caravan is not the biggest in "our neighbourhood" but it is 880 centimeters inside and 10,5 meter total lenght. I love it!

Thank's for the quick answer. If you have a source on the Internet for me I'll be delighted.

 

[RogerL]

Thinking more about the length of your caravan, at 10.5m overall it's 2m longer than the longest we Brits can use here and few caravans here are within 1m of the limit, so 3m longer than most British caravans.

You will need to plan your route carefully to avoid any narrow or twisty routes.

This will need disclosure for any site bookings to get a pitch big enough - but your major issue could be ferries - it'll be charged at full commercial vehicle rates as the trailer rates normally only go up to 8m - perhaps more importantly it may cause major issues on ferry ramps, link spans are almost universal but the tidal range can make the ramp steep enough to give UK-size caravans an issue getting on-off the ramp at high or low tide - you'll need to discuss thoroughly with any ferry companies.

 

[LizziePope]

Hi Eva and welcome to the Practical Caravan forum. Wow, what a caravan you have! You might also be interested in reading our UK travel guides for caravanners – click here.

 

[Eva]

Do you think your ferries are smaller than the ferries to/from Denmark, Germany, Poland? Because on them we haven't had any problems. We, always, have to think twice before we go anywhere but if there can be trucks/lorries on the ferries and on the roads I can't see the problem (if the laws don't say something else).

We really, really want to visit Great Britain and there is so much to see that we have to spend all of our vacation there.....and it will be to expensiv to check in to hotels.

 

[RogerL]

The ferries aren't any smaller except for a handful of Scottish Islands - but the ramps may not handle such a large LOW trailer. Trucks are much bigger but also much higher ground clearance.

If you're familiar with the way that ground clearances for SUVs are published, your "ramp over angle" and "departure angle" are both going to be significantly smaller than a typical large UK caravan - my own is only 6.1m overall so 4m shorter than yours and I have to let my chassis frame slide along the ramp surface.

Get contacting the ferry companies now, or just a couple you might use, and ask the question - they must have have information available and I doubt you'd be the first person to ask this question.

The Eurotunnel might be more practical, but probably more expensive - ask them now as well.

 

[Eva]

Well, I think I have to do that. My main problem was if we are allowed to drive and tow over there. And your first answer gave me hope.

Thank you for your help!

 

[andyp1]

Love the van - I want one !!

 

[Gafferbill]

Eva .........your caravan is over length in the UK if it is pulled by a towing vehicle weighing less than 3500kgs.

Whether you as a foreign holiday maker on a temporary visit can ignore our regulations is best answered by the UK government.

This is the UK government department concerned...............scroll down to the contact DVSA section and ask if a caravan as long as yours can be used temporarily in the UK.
Use the email address that contains the word vosa as this contact will get you to the right department.

 

[Eva]

Eva .........your caravan is over length in the UK if it is pulled by a towing vehicle weighing less than 3500kgs.

Whether you as a foreign holiday maker on a temporary visit can ignore our regulations is best answered by the UK government.

This is the UK government department concerned...............scroll down to the contact DVSA section and ask if a caravan as long as yours can be used temporarily in the UK.
Use the email address that contains the word vosa as this contact will get you to the right department.

Wonderful! That kind of answer is just what I'm looking for. I can read, speak and write in English....pretty okey, but I don't know anything about how things works in your country.
Bureaucracy in Swedish is hard....and in English it nearly impossible. :blink:
Thank's!