Site closures and storage
Comments
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I don't know what the payment arrangements are for storage. Give Notice of Cancellation and stop paying the blighters. That might focus their minds.
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Possibly not, but the terms of the storage arrangements they must surely be in breach and therefore withholding payment would be a legitimate course in the absence of any co-operation by the site owner. Not much use in your particular case though.
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Whilst I feel very sorry for the CAMC and the problems they encounter during these unprecedented times, not being allowed access to my motorhome is causing me immense concern and anxiety.
I have the van insured with the CAMC and the insurance clearly states "damage arising from domestic animals, moth, vermin or infestation" are not covered nor is fire if so caused by this situation.
This vehicle is my property and as such I should be entitled access to it asap.
To keep the member of staff safe there could be a system where storage customers are contacted in advance to book a one hour time slot on a certain day. Gates to storage compound could be left open so no keys/cards etc are exchanged. Barriers are opened each time the reg of the booked in vehicle arrives at the barriers. Compound is accessed (by foot) and member leaves within the hour. Is this possible?
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If it’s worrying you, and you are getting no joy after contacting the Club, why not take legal advice and find out what the legalities are?
You might find that it is an unprecedented situation, and that the Club are actually following guidance. Then becomes a question of patience really. There are no doubt a good few hundreds more folks in a similar situation.
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Why any one would want to do that Is stretching It a bit and that would go for any storage
We have a barrier card that opens both barriers for the times the storage is normally open only, the storage is behind locked gates at other times
If staying on the club site the card issued will open the site barriers only 24/7
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There's only one 10 o'clock in my working day dave and that's while the sun's shining
And after we've re opened and I'm unfurloughed
JK
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We have ours at a local (non club) storage and there are set times when you can put your unit in and out, and they change during winter.
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I wouldn't expect any storage site to be 24/7 unless it is some sort of 'self service' arrangement. If you want your outfit to be secure in the dark hours it has to be locked?
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There are places like that, self service types but usually the CaSSoa ones are usually staffed and have their gates locked up at night after a certain hour.
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When we took our MH for a run yesterday, the storage owner came for a socially distanced chat. Apparently several owners had been contacted during lockdown due to deflated tyres. On a CAMC storage, presumably as the staff are not actually working that would not happen and the first you would know about it would be when the LV is accessible again in July.☹️
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You pay by four instalments from Jan to April. it is all paid up now, so nothing we can do if we cannot get in. We were promised access from 1 July, so I booked a service for then. I do hope they are not going to go back on this date. Even if it is not serviced, after over three months stood there I would want to move it a bit to prevent flat spots on the tyres.
Given the site has over 300 caravans and motorhomes, all paying over £400 a year, the club have over £100,000 income after VAT so there should be some scope for helping us.
I appreciate they need to save as much as they can but there are limits to what the members can take and we do need to take care of our property so a further period when we cannot get in despite the fact there is no safety problem is not acceptable. As I understand it our barrier cards are not set to work so this could be reversed at virtually no cost.
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With a caravan a flat tyre is not good as it would be the steadies taking the weight,which they of course are not designed to do, a lot of things that are looked at when checking ,which we have not been able to do as since we put away in the middle of Feb , to come out the week before Easter and the mobile engineer service , that was booked at end of March had to be cancelled, now hopefully get it done before we hope to go away mid July
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Access to Storage Areas - A Plea
I’d like to thank all who responded to my earlier posting, possibly on another thread as this subject moves around. Some share my anger at the refusal of the CAMC to allow members to attend their units. Others are surprised that arrangements can’t be made to allow access. This is despite the ability of some mh owners to visit their units which aren’t kept on Club sites. Seemingly there is nothing unlawful in being given access.
To date, CAMC refuses to open storage areas on two grounds. Firstly, only essential travel was lawful, which no longer applies. Secondly, because site staff are furloughed and unavailable.
There seems to be a third reason why the CAMC refuses access to storage areas. This is because they are accessible only by first entering campsites. However, in those places where essential workers and others are accommodated and there is storage, then those sites are not closed. They can be open only with the use of employed wardens and not those who are furloughed. The storage of mh and caravans on unsupervised sites where there are people staying is not what customers pay for and is inappropriate. The duties of wardens could be amended to support access to storage areas.
Members wishing to visit their units are not doing so for the purpose of staying there. They’re not undermining the Government’s policy. We simply need to gain access through sites which, as I’ve shown, aren’t closed anyway.
So, in summary, the position of the CAMC is purely their own. It is not justified by anything other than our club’s executive decision makers. As a membership organisation, while operating at all times lawfully, the Club should support and not frustrate its membership. May I urge others to express their concern to the CAMC. Thank you.
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I'm sure storage will be opened up in due course, when it is the right time according to the governments advice and direction. It is a question of eradicating as much risk to all as possible and practicable whilst following the guidance we have to adhere to, mixed and confusing as much of this has been.
Likewise, I'm sure sites will eventually open too, but they may 'work' significantly differently to what we are used too. Until then, I'll take my direction from those who know far more than me and certainly are better scientifically informed. We just need to bide the time and remain calm and patient. Oh, and alert!
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Whilst I can understand members wanting to access their outfits on Club in storage compounds I am pretty sure that would have been against the law up until last Wednesday? We now have a situation where those restrictions seemed to have been eased although still very unsure in my mind!!! In the meantime the Club have furloughed most if not all site staff. The Club say that it would be against the rules of the Furlough system to allow staff to supervise access to the storage areas. It seems that some are suggesting that the Club ignore that restriction of the law? Perhaps the question that should be asked is why the Club furloughed those staff on sites with storage compounds. You could argue that unlike sites with no storage facilities (most of them) staff should not have been furloughed which could be justified by the fact that storage sites do have an income where as a touring site has none. However at the end of the day no one could have foreseen how COVID 19 would impact on all of our lives and perhaps with the benefit of hindsight other decisions would have been made.
David
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That makes sense, David, and I've been puzzled all along by Rowena's statement -
"Our site staff, whilst remaining on site and checking the compounds to give an element of security, are currently furloughed to protect the Club for the future, which means they are not currently working and are unable to grant access to the storage area."
How can furloughed site staff check compounds within the legality of the furlough scheme? That seems contradictory. 🤔
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Where I stored our caravans and now store our MH, I pay for it to be kept secure and also checked on a regular basis. If anything, such as a flat tyre or malfunctioning alarm happened, I would be informed. If the site staff are furloughed they presumably are carrying out no checks. If there is a pound on the site which would normally have had a responsible paid person looking after it. It is just totally wrong that this has been done to save money, even before the relaxing of lockdown. Now lockdown has been relaxed there is just no excuse for not providing the service for which folk are paying. It would certainly put me off ever using such a facility.
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Furloughed staff can actually still work. Just not for the same employer.
All it would need is to use the Area Managers to give access to the storage sites on a given day, give that date and a clear time slot to any Member who is desperate to check out their outfit, on the strict understanding that it isn’t to be abused, and it might appease a lot of the stress. Might not suit some, but at least the Club will have shown willing. It is a puzzle just who exactly is keeping an eye on Sites, unless the storage Sites do have Wardens furloughed actually on the Sites. There merely as a presence.🤷♀️
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Whilst I can understand members wanting to access their outfits on Club in storage compounds I am pretty sure that would have been against the law up until last Wednesday?
Maybe or maybe not. There are instances when I doubt that it would be considered illegal to remove an outfit to use as accomodation should a family member need to be isolated from the rest. Whether it is illegal or not depends on the reasons and should be a matter for individual members.
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Clearly staff have been furloughed to save money and in a wider sense help keep the Club's future secure for its members. Whilst I understand that, what has been said may seem contradictory as it seems furloughed staff are keeping an eye on things but logically if you are living on site you will be out and about in your immediate area so the checks might be just a visual rather than anything more detailed which might be acceptable within the rules? However that is a world away from supervising visits by members to their units. It does seem that decisions were made in a rush with perhaps not looking at all the possible consequences. I am pretty sure that it would be within the rules of the furlough scheme to un furlough one member of the site team to allow access to storage compounds which might be the way forward?
David
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I guess it would be difficult for folk (technically they are not staff under furlough) to walk/exercise in their environment with eyes closed or blinkered or turning that blind eye. I guess all of us would report criminal activity around us if noticed.
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All the rules or guidelines at present are open to interpretation, depending on your particular situation, so doing a visual check on the compound is probably not classified as work.
Am fortunate enough to be able to put my caravan on a hardstanding alongside my bungalow, but what do people do who put there caravans/Mh's in storage over the winter months at these sites if they are actually closed, e.g. end of Oct thru Mar, or is storage only available at open all year sites ?
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That is what I meant by using AMs DK. One person for an area, different site each day to enable visits. It’s how we used to check out our closed Leisure facilities over Xmas periods, two people, check the various pools and LCs in their area, just to make sure all was well, no break ins, plant running as it should be. It’s false economy not to have something in place, one breakdown would have cost thousands. Seems a bit strange if Club hasn’t realised Members would be concerned about very expensive outfits, but I suppose it’s all a learning curve for everyone, individual or business.
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On those sites where essential workers, etc, are staying, are the washrooms open? If so, who is cleaning them? Is the grass being cut and bins emptied? Surely furloughed staff cannot be doing such tasks as that would mean they’re working. Or am I missing something?
If they are working, then why can’t they provide access to storage areas if they are on their sites?
There seem to me to be some real concerns here. At the least, beyond a civic responsibility to stop or report crime which we all have, if site wardens are furloughed, expensive units are not being properly monitored in storage area for which members pay hundreds of pounds.
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