Positioning of pitch marker posts
At the outset I should say that I understand the safety implications taken into account by CC planners when determining relative spacings between adjacent outfits. However, the position of marker posts on most sites I have visited in the past few years has
resulted in very liited space to reverse in the car past the water barrel and drain at the offside of the caravan. at the other of the pitch, even with a full sized awning up there is always a gap of about three feet between out wall of the awning and edge
of the pitch. My view is that some of this gap would be better used to give slightly more space for the car. If the post was moved in all pitches in any line, there would be no change in safety gap provision.
Comments
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That would depend on the depth of your awning and whether you have a motorhome or a caravan.
Now I know it is the Caravan Club but there is an increasing number of Motorhome owners that are Caravan Club members and our requirements can be very different to that of a caravan owner.
As a motorhome owner I would like the peg to be towards the corner as I do not need space on the side of the van for an aquaroll and prefer more space on the other side. My awning is almost 4 metres in depth so it is a tight fit with the peg position as
it is now.The Caravan Club has to place the peg to maintain the safety gap irrespective of type of unit using the pitch.
So compromise is necessary.
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Chris102, we are also motorhomers but wouldn't want to have the peg in the corner as this would prevent us going nose in, we quite often pitch that way round if the pitch slopes to the road (fairly regular on CC sites) as this means we don't have to use leveling ramps.
I agree with the OP that on some pitches there is very little room for the barrels and then to park the car, while as he says there is more than enough room for the awning, when we had a caravan if we had pitched in line with the peg the car would on many occasion have been partialy on the grass. What we did on those occasions was pitch the caravan a short distance from the peg, most pitches do have a small tolerance which will allow you to do that. Most wardens would also allow and prefer you to do that rather than ruin the grass driving on and off it.
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Not sure it would work although I agree that the parking spac can be a problem. If you move the post at one end you alter the spacing all down the line and further adjustments might be needed as you go along. This could end up with you losing a pitch or
ending up with a very narrow one at the other end.0 -
I would much prefer to have the peg in the lefthand corner looking at the pitch. From a motorhome perspective parking in the middle of the pitch is a complete waste of space. If there was a good reason for units to face the other way, Bunree springs to mind
you could organise the peg on the otherside?David
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I would much prefer to have the peg in the lefthand corner looking at the pitch. From a motorhome perspective parking in the middle of the pitch is a complete waste of space. If there was a good reason for units to face the other way, Bunree springs to mind
you could organise the peg on the otherside?David
Write your comments here...but for a MH (or caravan) with the Hab door on the O/S then it needs to be the other side!
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Why do we need a peg? We're not stupid. A pitch is a pitch. Travelled all over Europe, never a problem, why can't we just put the caravan or whatever we're using on the pitch where it suits us. Top heavy club for rules and regs.
..Pitch markers are a safety point trom which the recomended fire breaks are measured hence the need to park your C/van or M/van as required to maintain said fire breaks and which have proved their neccesity very recently
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In my original post I questioned the actual position of the post which I fully accept is needed for fire safety reasons. I was not trying to argue for the post to be removed completely. On almost every site that I have visited since the new pitch spacings
were introduced I have found it really difficult to reverse my Kia Sorento in past the water barrel and drain container without touching the grass verge.....why can all the grass corners not be rounded to help with this? All passengers need to be out before
reversing in as there is no room to open doors once car is reversed in. Some respondents suggest pitching the caravan one or two feet beyond the post but any time I have tried this in the past, the wardens have made it very clear thàt they take a very dim
view of this. Even refilling the water barrel and emptying the drain becomes a chore because it means moving the car to create enough space to access these things. The solution lies in site planners and wardens getting together with some common sense and
a tape measure when deciding exactly where to place the post, taking into account the real practicalities of their decisions on members using the pitch.0 -
The solution lies in site planners and wardens getting together with some common sense and a tape measure when deciding exactly where to place the post, taking into account the real practicalities of their decisions on members using the pitch.
I would add some members to the mix who actually use the sites as customers and experience first hand the issues you mentioned.
Asking customers is not particularly radical for most companies.
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I parked my caravan exactly as requested inline with the post at Birmingham CC , pulled my car in alongside without going on the grass , passenger door swung open accidently when unloading the car and damaged the side of my 1 week old caravan, gutted to
say the least !0 -
so, in the above instances, are the towcars likely to be 'fractionally' too close the the caravan/MH next door, especially as they will be encroaching onto the sacred 'no mans land' of 'the grass strip'.....
if so, why arent the zealous wardens (who will tell you to move if you are a foot or so away from the peg with your unit) informing those above that they are as equally in breach of pitching regs as those 'peg creepers'?
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When asked to pitch to the peg, I do, and if it means encroaching onto the grass so I have access to the passenger doors, I do. If the Warden has a beef about it (not as yet) then I will ask him what he would like me to to about it, I'm quite prepared to park the van off the peg by a foot as I have all this unused space on the canopy side of my van, and still a long way from the adjacent green strip.
As it stands, they can't have it all ways, something has to give.
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Never found a problem parking the 'van on the peg and the Land Rover Discovery beside it on any CC site yet. How do i always manage to pick a pitch that works?
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When asked to pitch to the peg, I do, and if it means encroaching onto the grass so I have access to the passenger doors, I do. If the Warden has a beef about it (not as yet) then I will ask him what he would like me to to about it, I'm quite prepared to
park the van off the peg by a foot as I have all this unused space on the canopy side of my van, and still a long way from the adjacent green strip.As it stands, they can't have it all ways, something has to give.
Dave, agreed....however it seems that someone (the one with the tape measure....?) has made a bit of a ricketts in not allowing for water barrels, wastemasters, opening toilet cassette doors, opening of car doors etc........in addition to his '3 mtr' spacing
to the next unit.as you say, they cant have it both ways.....just a bad job being 'got around'....
time for another rethink?
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I suspect that most wardens are aware that this is a problem. I have certainly raised the issue on site on several occasions, always to be fobbed off along the standard lines of 'this is the first time anyone has ràised the matter'. One even suggested that
I learn to reverse my car more efficiently. I offed him the chance to reverse his car inTo the same space but he declined my kind offer. On a recent stay at Troutbeck CC I commited the cardinal sin of putting one wheel about six inches over the cornr as I
reversed in and left a low inde tation on the grass. The following orning a red marker flag saying 'keep off the grass' appeared right at the corner of the pitch. so much for civility, common sense and give and take!0 -
None of you are doing a very good job of persuading me to come back to using Club sites. You just make it all sound worse than I even
remember.
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If parked correctly to the peg I have found the car can be a tight fit if I try to avoid encroaching on the grass. As long as I miss the aquaroll and wastemaster I find there is room to get in and out the car though. Not had any wardens say anything though.
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I think the main problem is that they are trying to fit in to many pitches. A pitch needs to be fit for purpose. This means being able to park your car clear of the aquaroll etc, and still not be on the grass. If this is not possible pitches need to be sacrificed,
or made non awning, to permit sensible positioning of the peg.0 -
dont mind pitches being made larger to accommodate car, caravan, awning, now barrels.....provided that there is a sensible price differential if someone else is happy on a pitch of half that size as they only have a single item to plonk on the pitch..
if pitches can be arranged so as to better accommodate those appropriate users, this would mean having enough room to spread out for those who must, and having a smaller more compact (cheaper) non-awning pitch for those who are happier with a smaller pitch.
the current non differential does nothing to guide folk to an appropriate pitch....we all generally choose awning pitches as we think they are going to be larger/better yet cost the same.
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So what is standard size? Should there be maximum width of unit( motorhome or caravan), maximum size of awning( including that tunnel thing on the drive away ones) and maximum sized cars? Should all pitches fit the very largest? Should all pitches be 'neatly' configured across said pitch as Car, Caravan, Awning? I for one like those informal, more natural sites where things are not always in columns and rows and not always like the above. Some folk, I do realise, will like that uniformity though!
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The size does not often need increasing, just the peg more sensibly positioning on the pitch. To achieve this and maintain the 6 metres, could at the extreme require every other pitch to be non awning. A differential in price would in this case be sensible,
however I fear the CC would rather put the cost of the awning pitches up.0 -
Now here's a thought, why not call them two or three item pitches. Three would equate to car, caravan and awning or motorhome, awning and car where as two item pitch could be just a car and a caravan or a motorhome with a full drive away awning, the later
having no car in attendance mind!0 -
I'm off to Ayr Cragie on Monday and taking my measure, I'll reverse to the peg, do some measuring and take a few pictures. I'm not a great user of CC sites so perhaps awning pitches vary in size, but I found 'the Wirral' tight for the car and I encroached
onto the grass a little.0 -
I've like steves and mickeys posts as they are sensible, simple and would work
sadly guys the club won't take any notice. We've been on all
sorts of CC awning pitches some with caravans and some with M/H. Most have accomodated us with room to spare, however some have had the peg so far over that the car would just have to be parked half on the grass, yet as the OP pointed out there was way too
much room on the otherside. It doesn't take a genius to move the peg and still allow the safety fire break. At the Hawes site they have got some pitches that are awning pitches but very small, just big enough for van and awning, next to them another pitch
for the car. We were on a non awning pitch at the end of a row of back to back pitches, as we were on the end there was nothing either side of us yet the pitch was non awning, it was big enough for the M/H +car and room for the canopy if we had wanted to use
it, so why was it non awning, the pitches around the corner were not close so it couldn't be that. Strange how they re catagorised them.0
