Motorway Services parking
I know I've had a rant about this before, but it would seem more and more drivers are mis-using caravan spaces at motorway services. The whole point of these spaces is so we tuggers can drive in and out without having to reverse, and yet on our latest journey north we found vans, trucks and even a hearse using the few spaces allocated. Not wishing to start a war of words here, but small motorhomes and campers really don't need to use these spaces either - and now there are white vans, car trailers and all sorts which should surely be in the trucks section (with the current driver shortage they looked half-empty). It would be great to have a list of caravan-friendly services where we can pull in and out clearly and safely. Let me start the list with Gloucester services (north and southbound).
Comments
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Much depends on time of day, day of the week and season of the year. Sometimes service stations are busy ,sometimes not so bad.
Even Exeter services, which regularly get bad reports on here, often has space towards the bottom of the site. I think it’s the tortuous access for southbound traffic via roundabout with multiple traffic lights and repeated change of lanes which deters people from trying their luck there. But Taunton Deane southbound on M5 is better.
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It's always a bit of Russian Roulette pulling into the service stations I feel. Very rarely do we get into the spots for caravans. More often than not we are in with the lorries, which we're ok with. But on the odd occasion have had to drive straight back out again and on to next one as there were no spaces long enough to stop in. I always expect the worst now and am happily surprised if we get a parking spot easily.
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I think the problem with service areas are that many of them are not even user friendly for motorhomes other than perhaps the smaller PVC's. It's not so bad if the have drive through parking but many of them don't, so anything over six metres long would stick out too far. In those circumstances we really have no option but to use the longer bays provided for caravans. It's probably the same reason you find commercial vans in the parking. I am perfectly happy to go in with the trucks but that is not always allowed. As the Government are discovering to their cost when trying to persuade more people to become HGV drivers one of the main reasons why people don't want to is the terrible roadside/motorway facilities. For the volume of vehicles using our motorways there is just insufficient parking.
David
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There are no standards regarding this subject, some places offer good parking others not. It's always bad during school holidays, there's just not enough capacity at peak times. Although it would be OK for some motorhomes to use normal parking areas it can mean we get stuck in tight areas so it's not always easy for us.
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We regularly use Hopwood Park services at junction 2 of the M42. There are about six or eight caravan bays but almost invariably there are cars and vans parked in it. As a matter of course, I've started parking in the HGV area as, if the caravan parking is full it is a case of driving completely out of the services, back around the island over the M42 and back in to the services and then into the HGV park which is the first parking area. We generally travel on a Sunday and the number of HGVs in the quite big area is always very low, mainly foreign outfits, so we aren't preventing HGVs from parking. We have seen several other caravanners MHers doing the same but also, even in here, solo cars driving in and parking up. There have been times in the past when the services operator has put up a sign directing caravans into the HGV area.
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You get the impression at Gloucester Services that they actually thought about caravan and motorhome parking? Shame that wasn't replicated around the country.
David
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I have to say we used Wetherby on our way up north last month and despite being about 1pm and having to queue right back to the slip road and round the roundabout, we still found a space. There was a guy in hi-viz monitoring the bays all the time. So yes, they will go on my nice list!
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Do not do what I saw on the M25 last week. People queuing on the 1st lane (there is no hard shoulder for emergencies any more) putting themselves at risk of a rear ender by a 40 tonner solely because the car driver thought it was the right place to queue for fuel.
What dumbos!
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In my experience the parking supervisor at Wetherby is only there at very busy times. I have been there at least half a dozen times in the last three years and I have only seen a supervisor once. On that occasion, he was limiting the period of stay to one hour only.
Wetherby gets exceptionally busy. The space for caravans and motorhomes is fairly generous compared to many services with 14 large bays and, unlike many, it is well signposted. However, it can fill up very quickly. With the larger motorhomes and a car/caravan outfit, it is only effectively one outfit per bay. With smaller motorhomes you can get two in. The problem then is when the one at the front leaves it is hard to utilise the space it creates.
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In defence of smaller motorhome drivers (mine is 5.4 mtrs) the bays in some services car parks are quite tight, I can sometimes park in supermarket car park bays but having a problem with my right leg I have to swing the door to its fullest extent to alight the vehicle.
When you see a smaller motorhome parked in the spaces reserved for caravans there may be a valid reason for this.
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Original content removed by poster.
Apologies I thought you were referring to my post immediately preceding your post and I wanted to explain that I have no beef with small motorhomes using the caravan spaces. But I now realise you were referring to the OP.
In my view the OP was quite wrong to suggest small motorhomes should not use caravan bays. It is much worse if they annoy car owners by parking the parks designated just for cars (unless very small, perhaps).
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