What time should a CL pitch become free ?

[JohnM20]

We arrived on a CL in South Devon recently at about 1.00pm only to find that there were 5 caravans already on the site. I phoned the CL owner about this who told me that one of the caravans was leaving "later that day". There was no-one with the caravan in question and in fact they didn't return to the 'van until after 4.00pm after which they had to completely pack up including taking down a full awning with sleeping extension. By the time they left it was over 4 hours from when we arrived.
As it happened, a couple with a motorhome very kindly offered to move and allow us to have the pitch that they were on so that we could get set up and erect our awning. If by chance they are reading this, my thanks once again.
My question is 'what is a reasonable time for a CL to be vacated ready for the next visitors?' There doesn't appear to be anything laid down by the Caravan Club.
In theory, although admittedly unlikely, there could be five caravans arriving on any particular day and five leaving. If the CL is very small, where would people wait if the ones leaving don't go until very late ?

JohnM

 

[Soozeeg]

It's clearly up to each individual CL owner as to what rules they make and, from the limited experience we've had of CLs, they do appear to be rather more relaxed than Club sites as regards arrival/departure times. I guess a lot hinges on whether you had booked in advance, John - did the owner know you were coming? In which case, it would perhaps have been more appropriate of them to ask the ones who were leaving to vacate at an earlier time. If, however, they didn't know and you turned up on spec, perhaps they didn't like the thought of chucking an existing customer off. You say you phoned the owners on arrival - did they not live on site or simply weren't there when you arrived?

 

[JohnM20]

Hi Sue
We had booked two months previous and had been talking to the owner (by email) only a couple of days before we arrived. The CL was on a farm but about half a mile from the farm house, the owner visiting the site once each day to collect fees from new arrivals and have a chat with others on the site. This was usually mid morning.
JohnM

 

[Soozeeg]

In that case, it does seem a bit odd (and quite uncaring) of the owners not to ask the ones who were leaving to vacate by a certain time. I suppose it's possible that they had asked to remain pitched up for the whole day and the owners might have agreed, having forgotten you were arriving that day - who knows. There don't appear to be any hard and fast rules regarding arrival/departure times on a lot of CLs. I suppose problems do arise when some customers want to stay the whole day, and others want to arrive early - that's the thing about CLs, people go to them quite often for those very reasons, but time clashes can then arise (as you've illustrated) if the owners don't manage things very well.

 

[Moonstone1]

We use CL's all the time and we always ask when booking if it's ok to stay until later in the afternoon. Most don't mind, but also let you know if it's a problem. Most CL's we use have more than 5 hook ups, so that there is a spare to use if there happens to be a crossover. Again we have been on sites where vans have turned up wanting to pitch and all the pitches are full. Only the other weekend, we unhooked our electrics to enable a new arrival to use it as we were leaving later in the afternoon. Not a problem to us. However the previous weekend, two vans arrived early - 1 at 9.30 and 1 at 10.30 in the morning - I think this is just as bad a people staying on later as there is no way most people want to leave a CL that early and certainly wouldn't be ready to do so. Bit of give and take is all that's needed. Late leaving is one of the reasons we much prefer CL's as they are not so regimented in their ways.

 

[joeby]

its all very well staying late , some body might want that spot that you are occupying , and may have to wait around and pitch there van again and end up putting there awning up near dark , if you want to stay late get ready to go and pitch some where else , we pulled into a CL near Chichester a few years back ,the owner was out so i asked the stable girl where do we pitch as all the pitches in the sun with a nice clear views were taken, she said i dont know , so prceeded to reverse over a lumpy piece of ground under some trees , i could smell the clutch burning getting over these bumps , the people in the vans were watching , i just unhitched the van and the owner came back , and said why dont you go over there in the sun they shouldnt be there ,as he said that they quickly hitched up and were away , now those ignorant rude people sat there watching me and didnt have the decency to come over and say they were going. as far as i am concerned if somebody arrives after mid day the person thats leaving day should vacate the pitch