Arrival Times
Comments
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I'm sure there are a few who arrive early despite them knowing the earliest arrival time who are not attempting to 'steal a march' on those that adhere to the rules but I reckon many who do do so to grab what they perceive to be the better pitches. I may be wrong but without a change to the current arrangements they are still arriving early and still a source of concern to those that do try to comply. They know what the arrangements are and they know the issues they cause for others but they are still prepared to flaunt the 'rules' with little if any regard to those that try to be fair and compliant, hence the comment on this thread. Now I'm all for rule changes where advantageous but we should not be dictated to or driven by those flaunters who deliberately do so for there own advantage.
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CC will never change their current system.
for every post that sees the opportunity to make more of each day by doing away with rigid arrivals and the subsequent queuing and the immiment posts on CT about how someone jumped the gun and spoiled their holiday, there are an equal number who are able to dredge up the inevitible exceptions that proves the rule.
so what if access is difficult at a few sites, keep the rules for these if we must, but dont let that dictate policy across the majority of the network where this archaic process only exists because 'CC have always done it like that'.
having pitches vacant and customers wishing to get on them in a dignified fashion that avoids an arbitrary queue (inevitible whatever the rules say) seems a sensible recipe for letting them get on with it.....but not in a backhand way (WD) which annoys 'those who stick to the rules' but in an open policy that encourages arrivals to take the available space up as soon(ish) as it becomes available.
however, as in most (all) things CC, i wont hold my breath....
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BB just out of interest. Can you point me at a few UK Commercial sites, of a similar size to the CAMC, that allow any time arrivals on a general non announced basis. As I pointed out earlier, just because it works over there, does not mean it will here, where we have a culture based on short breaks that folk want to maximise to the full.
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for every post that sees the opportunity to make more of each day by doing away with rigid arrivals and the subsequent queuing and the immiment posts on CT about how someone jumped the gun and spoiled their holiday, there are an equal number who are able to dredge up the inevitible exceptions that proves the rule.
I don't really find this surprising. This is a forum, we are having a debate. It would be very unusual, and slightly worrying, if everyone agreed with each other.
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there are an equal number who are able to dredge up the inevitible exceptions that proves the rule.
Not seen evidence of exceptions to prove the rules BB. Unless you refer to the fact that there are some sites like Berwick on Tweed or Cheddar and a few others were it would be daft to have outfits departing at the same time as outfits arriving and hence departures at 12 and arrivals at 1pm. I would prefer departures by 11am and arrivals by 12 ob such sites but doubt that happening.
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If I owned a campsite and had customers queuing at the gate whilst pitches on the site were vacant what would I do?
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where we have a culture based on short breaks that folk want to maximise to the full.
There is clearly a risk here, but that "risk" is difficult to quantify, and probably very small. If short break means a weekend to most people then arrivals on a Friday will be spread out over the day, some people will come after they finish work, some will have a half day, others might have taken the full day, but they are only taking up spaces due to be free that Friday at some point. It will probably work fine....
Similarly if we are talking departures on Sunday, again some will stay as long as possible, some will depart much earlier, they want to get home, park the rig etc and get ready for work, kids for school etc. And other than the honeypot sites, most club sites are not full on Sunday evenings.. Again it will probably work fine....
It has got to be worth a trial because a) it provides customers with what they want b) it gets rid of the ridiculous queues at 12 noon and c) there is an injustice taking place at the moment, rule breaking members are stealing a march on rule abiding members. No civilised society should allow that to continue....
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No need to look at commercial sites, just look at 9am. arrivals allowed at Edinburgh club site and 10 am.arrivals allowed at Coniston Park Coppice club site.
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So a few people on here advocate the scrapping of arrival and departure times. Like some others here I still work and always look to maximise any time away so this is what I might be tempted to do for a weekend break.
Travel to my chosen site through the early hours of the Friday morning avoiding the main morning rush hour to arrive at the site reception at 07.30 sharp. Demand that my preselected freshly mown pristine grass pitch is available, set up and have breakfast.
Enjoy my three days and two nights break.
Pack up on Sunday after having had a BBQ for my evening meal and travel home very late Sunday evening again with the advantage of light traffic.
Sorted.
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I only posted that as you specifically mentioned Chatsworth, which is probably the Club site with the worst approach road problem, not to quote the exception that proves the rule.
As ET has said, there are a few other sites where a queue forming is not good, whether it is hampering people leaving the site, or annoying the local residents by hampering the movement of traffic in general.
There are some sites, like Edinburgh, which have a wide entrance/exit, a good wide road outside the gates which is not a very busy road so a queue on the road is OK, and plenty of space to stack queueing arrivals on the site, so no problem arriving pretty much any time. They also have a lot of tourists who are probably keen to get on the road to their next destination, so will leave early. All this makes the site suitable for a pretty much arrive when you like system.
Equally there are some sites where 2 outfits just cannot pass at certain points of the access, so outfits arriving while others are leaving causes gridlock.
On these sites there does need to be a far more controlled approach to leaving and arriving, probably even more controlled than most are at present.
A strict departure time needs to be enforced as well as a strict arrival time......with no exceptions. And with at least 30 minutes between the two.
Then there are all the other sites which are probably OK for anytime arrivals, as long as the queue does not transfer from 12 back to 9am!
How many people do regularly leave a site before 9am I wonder? On a busy site, how many empty pitches would there actually be before around 10.30?
Can the easily confused Club membership cope with all these differences?!
Re Park Coppice.....there is a lot of space just inside the entrance, plenty of room for outfits to queue up if necessary. The main road outside is not suitable for a queue however.
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I was trapped on site waiting to get out for the day along with a small MH 3 weeks ago at Henley CC site. No narrow access roads just a queue of five outfits waiting for the magic hour. 2 were in the arrival bays, 1 was in front of the barrier and the other 2 were blocking one lane of the main road outside.
It doesn't work too well there, in fact I would go as far as to say it could cause an accident.
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Yes, Henley is bad in that respect, the road past it is also stupidly narrow for the volume and type of traffic.......big buses....huge lorries.
Perhaps a few pitches need tobe removed to make a better "arrival area"?
The ones right beside the road could go, nobody wants to be pitched that close to such a busy road!
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How many people do regularly leave a site before 9am I wonder? On a busy site, how many empty pitches would there actually be before around 10.30?
I normally leave site between 9.30 and 10.30 depending on distance to next site. Between 8.30 and 9 if going home. When I have stayed on sites later I would say that most are off by 11am
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Travel to my chosen site through the early hours of the Friday morning avoiding the main morning rush hour to arrive at the site reception at 07.30 sharp. Demand that my preselected freshly mown pristine grass pitch is available, set up and have breakfast.
Not sure how far you would be travelling to your "chosen site" but if you and any travelling companions were that determined to be up before dawn to hitch the van and be on the road to arrive at a site by 7.30am all for a weekend on a CC site then I would say you deserved the first vacant pitch, especially as you only want a sh**y grass pitch anyway, there will surely be one free.....
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The CMC have decided that the earliest arrival time at any particular site is that which is published in the Handbook and On-line.
We normally arrive at our first or our next site around mid to late afternoon.
As we use the sites to stay overnight while exploring the surrounding area during the day, we are not in the least interested in bagging the mythical "best pitch".
The CMC have, IMO got it just right.
K
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I suppose they have to put that somewhere, and as it is only a small site, the whole site would smell it.
We were in the far back corner by the "dog walk", no problem while we were there,could not have stood the noise by the road however.
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Ha Ha. I would hope so, and as lots of people bang on about only wanting hard standings I would expect my pitch to look something like this
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Ha Ha. I would hope so, and as lots of people bang on about only wanting hard standings I would expect my pitch to look something like this
Found just the site for you.........
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Well that is two, any Commercials? Don't know about CP but Edinburgh has a large area where vans could wait or turn and there is plenty of parking locally, if they had to be turned away because of unavailability. Of all the sites we have visited I would say these types of conditions are the exception rather than the rule. Clumber would also probably be OK as there is plenty of parking in the park. Although you would have to pay for it if not an NT member.
We regularly stay Sunday to Sunday at CAMC sites and I can't say I have observed many folk wanting to get away early from often full sites. Conversely when we arrive on a Sunday close to 12 or 1, there are lots of other retired folk like us doing the same. Many who only have short distances to travel would be there at 9:30 or 10:00 if allowed. Well before enough had left. So the only sites it would work at are those with both unrestricted access and somewhere to send vans off site in the event of no pitches being available.
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