Never in my years caravanning
So we got set up Sunday day and around dusk, we just started watching a film and the lights went out and then came back on a few seconds later.
I looked out of the window towards the bollard and saw the guy from the adjacent pitch scurrying back to his van, looking sheepishly over towards our van (the 2 pitches being separated by a change in elevation and rocks/greenary).
30 mins later the lights went out and stayed out, I went to the bollard and found a breaker down. I reset it, but it tripped again.
I check the spare socket (3 socket bollard serving 2 pitches) but it was burnt out.
I spent all night 1am, 3am, 5am when I woke, nipping out and reseting the breaker, so our food did not spoil.
I went to reception for opening the following morning to ask for assistance, the wardens were great and we established that there was no issue with my van or cable and it was the breaker/bollard at fault.
..... We also found out the spare socket had been burnt out by the guy on the adjacent pitch the day before and that despite me laying my cable round and over his cable into socket 1, in the morning, my cable was twisted round his and mysteriously now plugged into socket 2! He was having trips before our lights went out and has had no electrical issues since and ours was tripping until the warden's kindly assisted us onto a different bollard.
The only conclusion I can reach is that having burnt out the socket, there has been some additional damage to the other socket and our 'neighbour' decided that the easiest solution for him would be to 'gift' us the tripping socket at dusk.
I wish I had spotted the switch over when checking the breakers, it just did not even occur to me someone would do something like that!
What sort of members are the club now attracting?
(... not mentioning that there is a group of 3 or 4 of them around us and we have endured a couple of gone midnight noisy gatherings, but like many I suspect, dare not say anything to them or the wardens for fear or reprisals)
Comments
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If you don’t say anything to the wardens, the noise problem won’t be addressed and others will suffer as well. What reprisals are you concerned about? It’s not like you have the Krays on site.
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Noisy folks are nothing new CJ, it’s par for the course on busy sites. Not always just folks talking and laughing outside, but noisy TV’s as well. You have three options really….
Have a discreet word with staff and see if they can help.
Do nothing and endure it.
Ask to move to another pitch in a quieter area.
We’ve only ever had two bollard issues. One at Exeter Racecourse, only us plugged in, the bollard was faulty. Second one on a CL, new users, they hadn’t a clue about electrics and kept tripping it. The whole little site was affected. Things didn’t improve despite advice from other visitors and CL owner. They were moved on and we later found them causing mini havoc at Marazion. Some folks are a bit inexperienced and not sure what they are doing when it comes to electric usage.
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I would always mention anything that affect your holiday to the wardens. And yes I have done that just once, a few years ago at Seacroft. There were a number of families across a few pitches but would all meet in the caravan next to mine. I don't object to people talking and laughing especially in the summer months but it went on past 10.30 till well after midnight. And what really did it was they were loud playing music too.
I did see the wardens and they said others had been in too. There was no more and as for reprisals they did ignore us from them on but not all bothered about that.
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I sympathise with nearby noise, sometimes a tricky situation to manage...also whilst it's not clear from your post how the socket got damaged it's a shame that some can't just own up to the situation and involve the warden straight away, if just from a safety perspective.
perhaps the guy was just 'testing' all three sockets on the bollard and trying to ensure that both you and he had a supply and that the 'burnt out' socket hadn't affected the other two?...however, this doesn't excuse not reporting the issue to the staff straight away.
despite this, I doubt we would have even noticed till the following morning and looking to boil a kettle....the tv and lights wouldn't have flickered, being 12v and the fridge/freezer would have changed over from mains to gas. Yes, there is a small 'mains on' light on the control panel and the fridge makes a slightly different 'noise' when running on gas.
there's no way I would have been outside at the times you mentioned and, once the issue had been discovered, would have managed it the following morning.
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At Englthwaite Hall just before covid the bollard we were using was put out of action by another caravanner who did what he was told by his female companion who did not have a clue about the "insert and twist" type of socket. They managed to pull the wires out of the back of the sockets with their twisting about. Fortunately I carry two EHU leads as some CLs pitches are distant from the bollards and got power from the next bollard along.
And before anyone screams about rules - my leads are fitted with screw covers to give effective waterproofing.
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In my experience the warden used to walk the site late evening to check all was well and noisy gatherings usually are already going on before 10pm and if needed they would have a word, it doesn't seem to be the case now, although on the Battle site in June they did walk the site and communicate with the customers but at Stover I only saw a warden on arrival and leaving when handing entry card back, in my opinion wardens are responsible for their sites I presume even more so now their managers.
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Conversely, the last Club Site we were on, Clumber Park, last September, the site staff were very visible walking around the site, they stopped to say hello a few times for a quick chat.
There are CCTV cameras as well on sites, so staff possibly see a lot more than some visitors might think. I happened to cycle into the West side of Ferry Meadows one afternoon, (we were staying on the East Side), quite a chase trying to catch me, but it ended up in laughter once they realised I was a Member and was staying legitimately😁1 -
I agree DD, why is that?
JK
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To DD and JK, I guess it was that they essentially surround us, and it would have been obvious who reported them.
I had already 'interacted' with the guy directly 2 days later, when we bumped into each other reception and he had the audacity to ask me if I was still getting electrical issues ....,he was 'not receptive' to our resultant discussion!It is one of those site where there is a lot of equipment (Inflatable SUP's and Kayaks and bikes) left unattended on pitches when out walking or sight seeing.
My consideration was, what else could someone who did that also do?!
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