Pitch Rent
Arrived at the Wharfedale Club site near Grassington yesterday for a three week stay in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. I always take care not to mark the grass when pitching and struggled to position our bulky caravan up to the pitch marker from the narrow site roads. However, I managed but overhung the grass at the rear of the pitch. Went to inform Mrs. Warden of our pitch number and informed her that we were overhanging onto the grass - that's fine, no fire risk as no-one pitched behind you. Later Mr. Warden swoops onto the pitch and informs me that I've only rented the hard standing and "that the grass was not mine". I was told to move the caravan off the grass or find another pitch.
To cut a long story short, in view of the warden's bad attitude and his unpleasantness, we decided to cancel our booking, stayed the night and moved off this morning to a site in the Lake District.
Rant over, John
Comments
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Oh dear, that is bad! Having a long twin axle, we do on occasions have to have the rear of the van overhang the grass, indeed on occasions, Cirencester comes to mind, about half the van has been over the grass.
None of the wardens have ever been concerned.
If your van is within the max length for the site, and your booking is accepted, then the wardens should ensure that a suitable pitch is available to you on your arrival.
If this was not the case, then I would complain to HQ.
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I echo Kjell's comments.
Even in the unlikely event of you being in the wrong, the warden should not have adopted that attitude, WK57. Report the issue to HQ and insist on a refund of any sum you forfeited.
Many people need to overhang the grass, it's not a crime.
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In the past i have been asked by Wardens to pitch overhanging the grass in order to get my hitch clear of the site roads.
Yesterdays picture.
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My sympathy too - but it strikes me the Other Club has got it right in having their wardens come out of the office and walk or cycle with visitors and show them to a pitch suitable for their outfits. If our wardens had done that for this gentleman it would have saved his unhappiness and distress.
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We just go as far back on the pitch as necessary to be clear of the road, if this involves overhanging the grass then that is not our problem.
The club, assuming we are within the length limit, has accepted our booking, so unless they direct us to a reserved pitch, we will do what is needed to fit on the pitch.
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At some sites, you’re told to park in front of your van parallel to the road if using an awning, due to restricted width pitches. With a TA, there’s no choice but to overhang on to the grass at the rear.
If this is a problem, you should be informed at reception which pitches are unsuitable before being given the freedom to pitch where you like. Bad form by this warden, I’m not surprised you were annoyed.
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Thank you all for your support - our worst experience in 21 years membership - these experiences taint ones stay on a club site and its probably better to move on as the holiday would not be as enjoyable as it should be - usually the comment from wardens when we leave a site is "you two are no trouble at all - come back anytime"
John
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Agree with above, hope you got is name and write a letter to the club. Never heard of this pitch rent nonsense.
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What is the point of being asked to specify the length of the caravan on booking and still have the problem that OP had. If that information is passed on the the site booked and on arrival the choice of suitable pitches be give to the customer.2
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It's a sad thing to say but we have found that some - NOT all wardens are becoming " jobsworths" over the last couple of years .
Whether this is due to club / area manager edict is hard to say.
This year in particular we have stayed 3 times on private / commercial sites and found that our stays were very pleasant - something we have never done before as club sites were always of a " certain standard"
Not so sure anymore !!
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We will have, when we get home next week stayed on cc sites for 144nights plus1 commercial site and have only found on one cc site a warden who was in need of some training in customer interface,when I was rinsing with plain water the muck of the front and Windows of our van,
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As far as I can tell the OP has not left a review of the site in question. It might be an idea to do so as reviews are monitored by both the Club and Regional Managers.
David
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We have never yet been on a Club site pitch too short for pretty well any caravan. Our current caravan is a little one but some have been much longer, and our Hobby 750 camper was 8M. We've only been at it 40+ years so I suppose there's always a first time.
If the warden told someone to move their caravan forwards I expect there was sufficient space at the front of the pitch to do just that. We have occasionally seen people overhanging by a silly amount - totally unnecessary.
If the warden was rude then that is a different matter, but saying "you have only rented the hard standing" is a figure of speech not a literal statement. People are sometimes too touchy.
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Ridiculous situation. Had it been us we wouldn't have left, might have suggested Mr and Mrs Warden sang from same same song sheet and let them get on with a domestic, but the Wardens don't seem to bother as much about space back to back, are utterly fixated with gaps side to side. At Warwick recently we had a MH practically come through hedge behind us, I doubt there was 2 metres between us at one point! We just parked a bit further from hedge on our return from day out in our MH!
Sometimes it's best just to pitch up and say nothing to anyone, that way the stories don't get tangled!
Lovely caravan by the way!
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In the photo the OP has posted the caravan does appear to be pushed back further than it needs to be, maybe it's just the photo, but there appears to be plenty of room at the front?
And are the rear steadies therefore jacked down onto the grass?
Perhaps the warden was concerned about that?, perhaps the ground is wet & spongy/soggy?
I agree that the OP should have been spoken to politely, perhaps the warden has made a poor choice of words, but from a lifetimes experience of dealing with "customers" sometimes people take offence at something that wasn't intended to cause offence.
I suspect that something being OK'd by one warden and refused by another has not helped the site team here either.......
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To cut a long story short, in view of the warden's bad attitude and his unpleasantness, we decided to cancel our booking, stayed the night and moved off this morning to a site in the Lake District.
Had a similar experience with a Warden....enough so for me to write to head office, explaining the issue, and suggesting that some wardens are "not best suited for front of house duties". I was pleasantly surprised to receive a call from the clubs area manager in response...
I would suggest, John, that you send an email to head office outline your concern over the issue....
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If site roads are narrow, I prefer to be well off the road with the hitch, makes it easier for others to get onto their pitch. A couple of the sites we used in the SW this year had roads that were just wide enough for a larger van or MH.
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Just as an add on to the ' tow hitch hanging over the narrow roadway scenario".....recently had a week at Seacroft, Cromer...a serviced pitch in the new section..which has apparently cost a fortune.... to find that that the only way I could access the pitch (roughly 8.5m * 8.0m) was by using the onboard mover. No way could I reverse onto the pitch as units on the other side of narrow roadway were also right up to the edge of their pitches....Not impressed at paying extra for a serviced pitch of 64 sq mtrs (est)....reminds me of a maths paper where you had to find how many hen pens you could get in a barn of a given size...
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I have been towing for 35 years and yes, vans have got bigger, but I can reverse. There are many pitches that can not be reversed into with a car attached whilst keeping front wheels on the track and tha tis with a 7m shipping length, many are longer.
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Hope you're going to keep in touch with us and tell us the outcome.
It does remind me of (many, many years ago) i visited Chatsworth site to meet up with the in-laws who were caravanning there. I parked at the office and explained we were there to see Mr and Mrs ... and what pitch were they on. I was told in no uncertain terms that I was there to ASK if I could see Mr and Mrs ... I did complain to HQ but have never forgotten that comment...and it must be getting on for 40 years ago!! Note to self - get over it!
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We have never yet been on a Club site pitch too short for pretty well any caravan. Our current caravan is a little one but some have been much longer, and our Hobby 750 camper was 8M. We've only been at it 40+ years so I suppose there's always a first time.
You need to get out more then
Even with a 7m shipping length I have occasionally run across the problem On a few sites I would not be able to wind rear legs down due to obstruction and have had to move caravan forward a tad, wind rear down. Raise front on jockey wheel and move caravan back, wind down front.
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It is usual for the wardens at Bladon to highlight the short pitches which are unsuitable for the unit you have with you, when you check in.
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